Gentle Sylph
by Fairylust
Summary: Death City is a place Crona can't deal with. It's impossibly large and when seperated from her owner she finds herself in the care of another human. His name is Kid and with his help she believes she will find Maka. However, she didn't realize how much of a challenge this truly is and with hope dwindling by a thread she fears she will never get home. AU. Eventual KiMa.
1. Chapter 1

**Gentle Sylph**

**Chapter 1**

The sky wept bitterly, fat gray clouds blocked out the setting sun, and the brutal winds blew down anything in its wake. Rain hammered down, thunder boomed in the distance, and lightening flashed in rapid succession. Anyone unfortunate to still be out was soaked. And it just so happened that at that moment a girl with ash blond hair tied up in pink ribbons ran down the vacated streets, calling out a single name, "Crona!"

She was starting to get extremely worried about her beloved pet.

It had been a full two hours since she had last seen this particular pet, the longest they'd been separated since the timid pokemon came into young Maka Albarn's care.

Before the melodramatic weather took place they had been calmly strolling about the marketplace of Death City, hoping to find some useful supplies before they moved on at the end of the following week. However, they'd been separated by the crowds once it started to rain and ever since then Maka had been running about like crazy trying to find her lost pokemon who had undoubtedly gotten horribly lost. She tried to not imagine a worst case scenario, merely using what fear she already had to fuel her legs and body to keep moving.

She probably should have went back to their apartment and gotten Soul, her furfrou, or someone else, but she wasn't thinking, too worried about Crona's well-being.

Sniffling, the girl finally turned around and started to head for home. Tears ran down her already soaked face; however, she made a silent promise to resume her search once the rain had let up and she had someone to accompany her the next morning. Meanwhile, on an entirely different street Death the Kid, son to the mayor of Death City, held an umbrella tightly in hand as he made his way down Macabre Street and headed onto Charlotte Avenue. He had been hoping to get home before the storm hit, but found he possessed no such luck once the frigid droplets began to fall.

Normally, he'd have been thrown into a panic attack, but thanks to his sturdy black umbrella he felt he was well shielded from the water. Thank goodness for his father's quick thinking!

Yeah, he had been visiting with his dad, who was working, as usual, and suggested Kid take and use said umbrella once he found himself caught in the rain when he first attempted to make the trip back home.

_Think eight, multiples of eight, _he thought to himself, though part of him was deeply disgusted with how anxious he felt. _You'll be home soon_, he promised himself, _just stay calm and above all don't–_

This was when his thoughts were disrupted by a sharp, keening cry. He froze where he stood, turning his head to look in the direction of that horrid wail. His eyes met a darkened alley. Now, Kid wasn't stupid. He knew it was never a good idea to go into dark alleys, especially not if you hear such cries coming from one, but when he gave it thought he suspected that someone was hurt. And he wouldn't be able to leave in good conscience knowing someone was possibly hurt.

So, he turned and headed into the dark alley. It really wasn't that bad.

To a normal person it'd have probably caused them a heart attack, but Kid had spent his early years of youth surrounded by ghost, psychic, and dark-type pokemon so anything a normal scare had to offer–or an illusion meant to scare someone–just didn't cut it with Kid. He was, in a word, immune to such things.

That wail broke into his thoughts again.

Now that he was closer, Kid couldn't help but to think of how inhuman that noise sounded. He looked around warily as he continued forwards, expecting to see a wild, possibly hungry stray.

Sure enough, as he neared the end he saw a pair of long, quivering pink ears sticking up from within a large, abandoned wood crate that was soaked from the rain. They were clearly listening for intruders, but the cries had subsided, giving Kid the impression that whatever lay within the crate either feared he was a predator or waiting for him to get close enough before pouncing.

He decided to risk being pounced upon, taking another step closer to get a better view of the crate before him. It was in the process of decay with a fuzzy gray carpet of mold lining the underside of the disgusting, wooden container. A filthy, worn out dark blue tarp lay inside, clinging to the sides of the crate with slender inches of tattered fingers. A soft smile came to his face, as he peered down into the crate to see a sylveon lying there, tangled up in leather cords and thin, hair-like webs of string. It whimpered and squirmed weakly as they locked eyes with each other.

"How'd this happen, you silly thing?" Kid gently teased.

Reaching out cautiously to start untying the poor pokemon, he noticed something silvery gleam with reflected water droplets in the dim light of the alley. It disappeared as quickly as it had came into view. Sylveon gave another loud cry, thrashing and struggling harder. It shrieked in what sounded like agony when Kid finally reached down and started tugging at the tangled mess wrapped around the pokemon's lithe form. "It's all right," Kid breathed, hoping his calm would reassure Sylveon that everything was going to be okay.

It didn't.

Sylveon struggled harder, crying out more frequently in terror, and even went so far as to nip at Kid's hand to make him stop. It worked for about two minutes due to his shock at having been nipped by the seemingly defenseless creature before him.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he promised, feeling a tad foolish for talking like he were speaking to a small child rather than an animal. "I just want to untie you. Isn't that what you want? To be free?"

There was a moment of silence, as large blue hues stared up at him, trembling within their sockets, reflecting their heart's terror perfectly.

"Now," he said patiently, "let me try this one more time."

He started messing with the cords then and Sylveon lay quiet, much to both Kid's satisfaction and astonishment. Although, judging from how hard Sylveon breathed he supposed it had been at this for a while now and had all the fight drained from it. He managed to get the string off with little to no problem. It was so dainty and frail that it broke apart between his hands. Those damn cords were the real challenge. They were tough, as anticipated seeing as they were made of leather, but Kid managed to finally get them all off from the weakened fairy-type. He lifted Sylveon up with one arm, cradling it next to his chest, much to its horror. Kid hummed, noticing for the first time that it wore a collar. The silver license glowed beautifully with the tiny water beads catching light before dripping off.

_Ugh, I don't know how to deal with strangers holding me!_ Sylveon seemed to blush, before sending him back with a hard tackle to the chest. Kid gasped, almost dropping his umbrella, but managed to keep his balance. He stood there temporarily winded for the next few minutes following the attack. Whimpering and panting hard, Sylveon padded off to hide behind a stack of drenched cardboard boxes.

A thick black stain was left on his hand, making him shudder as he wiped it off against his black pants. If he were anyone else he may have just left the scared Sylveon be; however, he was not anyone else so he moved over to where the pokemon lay shaking and whining, out of sight, and clearly suffering in excruciating pain.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked, staring at Sylveon and taking everything about it in from its pretty, lithe form to its malnourished appearance.

Sylveon were known to be slim pokemon, but this particular sylveon seemed to be extra thin with its ribs nearly visible and short fur matted, needing a good brushing, especially between its ears where there was a messy patch of pink fur. There were stains of all colors ruining its pallid complexion. Black was the most predominant now that the rain wasn't doing much to wash it away. Kid wasn't sure if it were tears or rainwater, but fat silvery liquid droplets leaked down its pretty face.

He extended a hand, sure to be slow and careful in his movements.

Sylveon tried to shrink away but was unable. He whispered reassuring words to the grimy pokemon, noticing for the first time that a wide gash stretched across its underbelly, leaking a thick black liquid that dripped and flowed down its legs like thin black ribbons. Kid was a bit disturbed by this fact, but remained calm and spoke to the shivering pokemon kindly. "I promise I won't hurt you." he said, taking one of the sylveon's ribbon-like feelers into his hand, stroking it gently. His thumb ran over the pinkish, blue tips, massaging them lightly and making the pokemon lean further into the pleasant touch.

"See?" he murmured, ceasing his rubbing to give a reassuring smile. Its feeler instantly went limp in his hand. "I don't want to hurt you."

There was a brief moment where everything seemed to stand perfectly still, and then Sylveon gripped his hand back timidly after another moment of hesitation, making Kid grin, feeling rather triumphant as Sylveon started to inch its way out from underneath the safety of its boxes. It stood there vulnerable before its human rescuer. Uncertainty was written across its features as its body quaked due to a combination of fear, pain, and chill brought on by the icy rain.

Kid lifted it up into his arms, examining it now that it wasn't so upset. Of course, it was then he noticed _it _was not an _it _but a _she _and _she _wore a very pretty black collar, torn at one side, which bothered Kid slightly, but what had his attention was the silver tag that dangled off the dark accessory. It had five letters etched into its shiny wet surface.

"Hmm, so your name is Crona? That's...ominous. Lovely, but ominous."

There was a gentle murmur from the pokemon as though to confirm it. He noticed something etched into the back of the tag and held it up to read the words, _'Forever Together, Love Maka'_ carved neatly into the back. Kid supposed whoever this Maka was, was probably Crona's owner. He started to set the quadruped down to try and get his cell phone and see if he could call his dad about this only to stop when both of Crona's feelers wrapped around his neck, making him imagine someone putting their arms around him in a desperate attempt to stay close.

_Dad probably wouldn't want to be bothered by this_, he supposed after a minute of thought. Sighing, he cradled Crona against his chest, promising that he wouldn't leave her alone in the dingy alleyway.

Naturally, since there was no way to currently get hold of anyone who could be of some assistance he decided he'd just take Crona home with him and try to find her owner later the next day. Once home he could clean the sylveon up and try to think of a way to contact this Maka person to let her know where her pokemon was.

He just hoped that Crona didn't hate baths.

* * *

**I couldn't help myself. I was writing on another story and mid chapter I thought of this and couldn't help myself from writing it down. So what do you guys think? I've been wanting to do a cross-over for a while now but couldn't decide on what to cross. Originally, I was gonna try Soul Eater with Death Note or attempt another Death Note x Pokemon fic, but I ended up with this instead.**

**I tried being creative with the title and I'm unsure if I succeeded or not. Similarly, I am uncertain if I did a great job of avoiding grammar mistakes seeing as I mostly skimmed through during the editing process.**

**Anyway, if anyone wants me to continue on or if enough people feel I should leave it off here then please speak up and I'll take your thoughts into consideration. Although, in all honesty, I doubt this will turn into a lengthy story. It'll probably be ten to twenty chapters (at most) since I don't particularly feel like dragging it out. ****So, I now want to thank all who read and I hope I didn't torment anyone with spelling or grammatical errors.**

**S****orry if I did!**

**-_-'**

**And I hope that this was to your satisfaction. Thanks, again, so much for reading!**

**~Sincerely Yours, Fairylust~**


	2. Chapter 2

Crona couldn't keep from gawking at the huge house this human carried her to. It was what Maka would surely describe as gothic in design and was surrounded by huge iron gates. Her breath was taken away. Maka didn't, hadn't, and probably would never have a house this big. The large front doors closed silently behind them and he struggled with closing and shaking out his umbrella. A sudden, shrill screech made Crona give a startled yelp, shrinking against Kid's chest fearfully.

Turning to look in the direction of the noise she saw a tall human girl who looked to be about Maka's age with black hair, pretty blue eyes, and a somewhat pale complexion standing in an open doorway, gaping at Kid like he were holding some vile monster.

A lone volbeat and illumise floated alongside either of the girl's shoulders, glaring at the human male holding Crona who started to tremble, fully aware she was not welcomed here. "It's all right," Kid murmured reassuringly to the sylveon, though Crona caught the annoyance etching itself into his tone. He looked up to the source of the earlier shriek with a firm stare. "What's the matter now?"

"What's that?!" the girl demanded, pointing a finger at the hapless fairy-type.

"A sylveon. I found her-"

"I don't care where you found it! It's filthy!"

"Relax, Ponera, I'm just keeping her for tonight. I think I might take an ad out in the paper and, hopefully, her owner will show up."

"That'd be a total waste of money." she said sharply, eyes cold as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You'd do better to just turn it over to the pound or something!"

Ignoring her, Kid headed into the next room, which was huge and decorated with beautifully expensive looking furniture. Everything was neat and arranged perfectly. The color scheme was nice and respectable, practical, and fit Kid to a T.

It was absolutely exquisite. Crona felt like she'd just been carried into one of Maka's dreams. Or, at least, one of the dreams where she had a nice house and was someone other than a transient.

Kid took her up a set of stairs and before she fully understood what was happening Crona found herself shoulder-deep in bubbly, rosy scented bath water. Lucky for Kid, Maka had taught Crona baths could be fun otherwise she may have mistaken his attempts at bathing her as an attempted drowning. Thankfully, though, the water was warm and the actual bathing only lasted about twenty minutes. Smiling, Kid dried her off and brushed her fur, smoothing it down afterwards. He had to admit, he did some pretty good work. Crona looked ready for a contest.

"Oh, my," he breathed, holding a handheld mirror up for her to see, "look how beautiful you turned out."

Staring at her reflection for a moment, Crona could feel her face heat up at his compliment, but failed to see exactly what it was he meant. He put the mirror away after a moment and gave her an affectionate pat on the head as he then stood to leave. Kid was rather surprised when he felt a feeler wrap itself around his wrist, stopping him from taking another step. The look the timid pokemon gave him begged him to not leave her alone even as he gently unwrapped the ribbon-like feeler encircling his arm.

"Aren't you coming with me?"

She cringed, shrinking down low to where her belly brushed against the cool tiles of the floor, making her wound sting and causing her to give a pained whimper. _Oh, right!_ Kid felt like an idiot for forgetting about that. First, he inspected the wound. Crona didn't seem to like that, especially when his features contorted with disgust upon seeing the thick black that encrusted the wound. _Is it infected?_ He wondered, feeling somewhat sickened.

How long had she been wounded? He'd assumed it had been caused by those leather cords tearing into the soft flesh of her belly, but now he was wondering if she'd been injured beforehand. Had her owner purposely deserted her after a lost battle? The very idea of anyone abandoning such a helpless creature sickened Kid to his very core.

His disgust didn't die down upon realizing that the black was not infection, rather the pokemon's blood. Again, this realization caused him concern. It seemed...unnatural. Had the poor thing contracted cancer or some other horrid disease? Had Crona's owner/trainer left her because of _this_? He certainly hoped that wasn't the case. Perhaps it was too much of a financial burden caring for the sylveon or had the fairy-type's owner decided to release her, leaving Crona to the mercy of the city streets? Kid had heard of trainers and owners that had done such a thing.

The mere thought of such a scenario being true made him feel a tad sick. Luckily, he had a pressing issue to attend to so he was easily distracted, getting out a silky soft stick-on bandage he'd purchased from the store after one catastrophic incident, he made sure to first disinfect the wound as carefully as possible, fearing the sting would cause Crona enough alarm, but she barely even winced and allowed him to put the bandage over her wound with little resistance.

"I think we might have to get you an appointment. Just to make sure everything is all right."

"Syl..." Crona murmured. Kid suspected–for reasons beyond him–that the sylveon's simple response translated into a compliant, _"Okay_..._"_. It was at this point he decided a normal person would have decided that they had been slowly descending into insanity, not that he particularly cared or thought that considering he wasn't what many would refer to as 'normal'.

It was then he eyed her collar, which he'd placed next to the sink before bathing her. Its silver tag beamed beneath the bright bathroom lights. Kid read the words engraved in the metal one more time, fingers running over the accessory's soft, ripped material. What owner would engrave such loving words then up and leave? That'd be like him abandoning his beloved pets. No, he was certain–if only by personal opinion–that whatever kind of person Crona's owner was they weren't cruel, at least not to the sylveon, who Kid noticed eyed the collar with a heavy cloud of gloom forming within her dazzling blue orbs.

He supposed he'd have to put that away, preferably out of sight, until he could get it mended. Or until her owner turned up. If they were decent then they'd get the accessory fixed or purchase a new one so Crona wasn't running around with a half torn collar.

Heading downstairs with Crona practically on his heels he found himself sort of wishing she were more talkative. It was a silent walk and he didn't think he'd have minded some made-up conversation. Her voice was soft and pleasant, unlike the horrid cries she'd emitted earlier when he first found her.

Soon they were in the kitchen. Of course, it wasn't what Crona had come to know as a kitchen, being twice its size with nearly three times the appliances and five times the food. She felt like a speck as she stood there with Kid. Meanwhile, he got a dish out from under the kitchen sink without any second thoughts. Humming softly as he worked he neglected the nervous sylveon on the floor, too busy preparing her something to eat to notice when she started creeping off to investigate around the large stove on the opposite side of the room.

**What's with this smell?** She wondered, unsure of what it was, but knew it made her hungry. It wasn't like the berries or pokefood Maka had given her. It certainly wasn't like the delicious block-shaped treats she'd sometimes provided. It didn't even smell like some of the delectable human food her beloved friend and trainer had been kind enough to share.

**It's sweet**...**like**...

"Crona?"

She nearly jumped out of her fur. She never knew humans could be so sneaky! Eyeing Kid with wary hues she cringed momentarily, scared she had done something wrong.

"What is it, girl?" He paused. A grin came over him as a thought occurred to him. "Do you smell something you like?"

"Syl..." she mumbled. Her stomach growled and her ears flattened in embarrassment. Kid gave a chuckle and turned back to his previous task. He knew she was in for a surprise as he set the silver dish onto the floor. Crona was hesitant to eat, noticing the letters P-a-t-t-y etched into the side of the bowl. She knew a name when she saw one and wasn't too relaxed upon noticing a fresh scent covering the bowl, not from the food, but from the presence of another pokemon.

She looked up to Kid worriedly. **Are you sure this is okay?** Her eyes were downcast as she pondered over this, growing hungrier and hungrier with each passing minute.

"Hey," he spoke softly, kneeling down to give her a few gentle, reassuring strokes, "don't worry, nobody's going to hurt you. Or is it because this is someone else's dish?" There was a momentary pause as he decided this was, in fact, the case. "You're very polite, aren't you?" Kid chuckled, finding it a tad ironic he was having to soothe a calming pokemon.

"Don't worry about it. I know this is all new, but it's good. And I know Patty won't mind if you use her bowl." Crona still wasn't familiar with human speech, but was certain she heard dishonesty hidden in there amongst all his kind words.

Still, she was hungry and didn't have it in her to resist such a mouth-watering offer. The treat looked and tasted quite yummy with pink frosting, a cherry topping, and a fluffy, cream-filled center. Her lack of resistance just reaffirmed what she already knew: Maka had made her soft. Ever since she came into the benevolent girl's possession Crona had been pampered and showered with affection to the point where she felt almost suffocated.

Thank Arceus for Soul and Ragnarok. If not for them, Crona feared Maka would have literally suffocated her under all that undeserved attention.

Once she was finished Kid, who was beginning to remind Crona of Maka, prepared another treat that was orange with a chain of orange fruit slices going around it. It was really good, too. The sylveon felt like she was going to grow horribly fat if she ate another so she took a few steps away from the bowl, licking whatever traces of frosting or crumbs were left on her lips.

Kid seemed to get the message and put the dish away after giving it a good rinse in the sink, whether it was to ensure the frosting didn't make it sticky or to wash away Crona's scent was unclear, but he hastily put it away and turned back to Crona just as that girl appeared in the room with that volbeat and illumise following after her.

"How long will it be here?" she asked, eyeing Crona with a frown. The look in her eye made the sylveon scurry off to hide behind Kid's legs. He didn't seem too pleased with this, but Crona wasn't about to move as long as those scornful eyes were aimed at her.

Memories of cold golden orbs that burnt into her soul flashed before her soft blue hues. She recalled all shades of abuse and various forms of failure that led to cruel mistreatment. Tears sprang up and she whimpered, hugging Kid's legs with her feelers and silently praying he wouldn't leave her to the mercy of this horrid girl with those cold eyes.

"Would you stop talking so harshly? You're scaring her half to death."

"Seriously? You're acting like this thing is...is...your pet!"

"She is very friendly so I do believe she's meant to be a companion. Is it wrong to treat her as such? Besides, I'd think you would like her. Isn't she just endearing? And symmetrical..."

"Adorable?" this girl, Ponera, scrunched her nose with evident distaste. "You know I hate those things! They're too weird and girly!"

"Well, what do you plan on having me do? I can't very well throw her out."

"I don't care," she huffed, "just keep it away from me and _my _pets." Crona trembled, staring at the two bug-types floating on either side of Ponera, glaring at her with as much disapproval as their mistress. "And after you get rid of it why don't you consider getting a manly pokemon? Or at least one that is useful."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." he muttered. Again, Crona sensed some hidden annoyance and hostility in his tone. With this being said, Ponera turned and left, leaving Kid to sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose, collecting his thoughts as he tried to decide on what to do next now that Crona had been cleaned, bandaged, and fed a little something. Releasing his legs Crona moved to peer out the doorway, making sure the girl was truly gone. She was, thankfully, out of sight.

**She's really scary...**

"Most girls like fairy-types, most girls think they're cute, most girls don't go for bugs..." He gave a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "Why did I have to get stuck with the one girl on the planet who doesn't understand me?"

**I don't know... **Crona murmured, and then shyly inquired, as heat pooled in her cheeks,** Is she your mate?**

"I can't believe Dad arranged for us to get married. I can't stand her and I know she feels the same about me. Why else would she purposely insult me? Criticize me..." giving another heavy sigh, Kid gave Crona a forced smile, "at least you don't judge me so harshly."

_Married?_ Crona knew that term. She felt like Maka had mentioned it before...oh, wait...yes!

It all came back to the sylveon. She'd been sitting next to Maka watching the sun set and her mistress had felt the need to spill her heart out to someone. She'd talked about her parents divorce, which Crona supposed was when humans separate from their mates indefinitely, and then Maka had gone into how she wished to someday marry. However, she was uncertain if it would actually happen because she was scared of men, or rather she was scared of trusting them. Her mother had trusted her father and been devastated after their divorce, leaving Maka to her father and moving off to a far away land just to forget the man who'd broken her heart.

Crona had listened and supposed that marrying–human's form of mating–wasn't something Kid wanted. Young males usually didn't go for that so the idea wasn't too surprising.

"You know, Crona, you're lucky. You can mate for life or break up without things becoming complicated. "

_That's not true_, Crona thought,_ things can get really complicated. Especially if two males fight over you. _Not that she was ever really in that flattering dilemma. What male could want her? Besides, all the males she'd ever been exposed to were violent, frightening creatures that fought over the silliest of things. Crona's original trainer/mother had prided herself about owning such strong fighters. Crona was probably her only true failure, but it was the sylveon who was truly at fault. She was the one who'd been born with a frail body and fragile soul. Although, Maka had said it wasn't _really _her fault so she supposed it was somewhat true.

"I'm sure you're very popular among your kind, hmm?" Kid teased, rubbing her between the ears and chuckling. "I'm sure you have a lot of options available."

**Wha...?** It took Crona a moment to fully understand what his teasing words meant. **N-no! The only males I'm around anymore are Soul and Ragnarok, maybe Black*Star, but he's with Tsubaki and neither Soul or Ragnarok like me much so I-**

Of course, the dark-haired human couldn't understand a word she said since she spoke in her native poketongue; nevertheless, he realized that his words had really upset her. "Hey," Kid tried to soothe, laughing at how panicked she'd gotten, "I didn't mean to offend or upset you. I was only joking."

**J-joking?** She felt mortified, hanging her head low and letting an aura of depression take over. Kid rubbed her behind the ears, causing her to jolt as he touched a certain spot there that felt absolutely delightful when massaged. Her hind leg unconsciously thumped and she leaned into his touch, wondering just how long that spot had been there. She was disappointed when he stopped.

"Feel better?" He didn't need an answer to know she wasn't sad anymore.

Unfortunately, he had the feeling she was now a bit cross with him. Patty usually got mad when he did that and stopped, which he supposed was fair considering it was probably like giving someone a delicious cupcake, letting them take a bite, and then snatching it away once they decided they liked it. Not like that exactly, but it was the best example he could conjure up.

"Okay, so now that you're all taken care of I think I'll go upstairs to get ready for bed. You can wander around if you like. Liz and Patty should be around here somewhere so you should have someone to play with just don't let them convince you its okay to chew on or move anything out of place. Be a good girl."

**N-no, please don't leave me alone! **Crona begged, following him out of the kitchen and all the way upstairs. Sadly, she was locked out of his bedroom so she sat outside feeling horribly neglected, almost as though she'd been abandoned by a dear friend. Well, she sort of had been earlier so–

**No, don't think like that**, she scolded herself aloud. **Maka is out looking for you. She cares**...**she does**...**care**...**she**...

It didn't matter what she told herself. She felt a seed of doubt sprouting within her heart and was horribly ashamed to feel that way. Crona hated herself for that doubt. She despised how she let herself doubt _Maka_, of all people, but if she were honest with herself Crona knew the fear of abandonment had been there ever since she'd became Maka's friend. Her heart had taken on that mistrust the same instant she allowed herself the luxury of hope.

_I promise I won't ever leave you._

And she wasn't too certain if her heart could take such a betrayal. _If _there _was _a betrayal, which there clearly wasn't. This was all just an accident. _Yes_, she told herself, _just an accident_. So why was there such an agonizing pang reverberating throughout her entire being?

**Maka**...


	3. Chapter 3

**How could you have lost her?!**

**Yeah, since when have you guys ever been apart?**

**I knew you should've taken me! A star wouldn't lose their best friend!**

**Oh, this is bad! So very bad! What will we do if we can't find her? This city is huge!**

"Calm down," Maka said, trying to soothe her upset team, "I'm sure she's fine. We just need to make some calls and put up some flyers. I'm sure she'll be found. I mean, she had on her collar so nobody will think she's wild–"

**Do you have any idea what sort of trouble she could get into? **A quaking houndoom snarled in rage. **That idiot doesn't stand a chance on her own!**

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

The houndoom went on, glaring Maka down the entire time he was on his tirade, **I knew I should've went, too! But no! I trusted you to keep an eye on her and what happened? You **_**lost **_**her! Stupid human girl! You're completely useless! Whatever happens to her out there will be **_**your **_**fault!**

Pained devastation shown clearly in Maka's olive hues. She had always possessed the gift to understand poketongue, but sometimes she wished she didn't. They could say such hurtful things and she didn't want to hear it right now, even if it were the truth.

**Hey**, Soul growled, coming to his partner's defense, **it's not her fault so stop trying to make her feel worse.**

**Yeah**, Tsubaki nodded, **you're being mean, Ragnarok.**

Maka stared at the furfrou and nuzleaf who defended her with sadness etched into her paled, drenched features. "No," Maka sniffled, "he's right. I should have kept an eye on her better. It's my entire fault. She could be anywhere...she could be hurt or...or..." her voice trailed off, breaking as tears warmed her chilled flesh, mingling with the droplets of rainwater as she stood with her shoulders shaking. A prinpulp who usually had something to say stood silent, staring at his trainer with a firm, yet dismal gaze that held its usual fire of determination.

Soul and Tsubaki gave Ragnarok a pair of heated glares that he easily shrugged off, slinking off into another room. Maka's room to be exact. He glowered at the corner near the door where Crona had slept just the night before. A white blanket lay there to make it more comfortable. He'd shared the sleeping space with her to make her feel safe the night before.

Presently, however, all he could do was glare and think dark thoughts, silently promising that he'd give her a good thrashing if she let herself get hurt being her usual naive, idiotic self.

**Hey**, the houndoom turned, glowering at the water-type that stood in the doorway, **you gonna just stand there or are you going to help me find Crona?**

**You mean sneak out and track her down?**

**Duh! **Black*Star exclaimed, giving the dark/fire type one of his cocky smiles, **Maka's obviously not up to the task right now, but with a star like me, a nose like Soul's, and a thug like you we could find Crona before the sun rises! What do ya say?**

**I say you're a moron**, Ragnarok said with a smirk, **but what've I got to lose? Sure. Why not?**

**Great! We leave when Maka goes to sleep. That's when we'll have our chance to creep out! Awesome plan, huh? I bet you couldn't have come up with a plan like that! Hahaha!**

Ragnarok rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to take a bite out of the obnoxious prinpulp, who took his leave then to go see if his presence would help cheer Maka up. After all, who could stay sad in the presence of a star?

Silence descended over the room almost instantly.

Staring back at the vacant corner, Ragnarok couldn't help himself from feeling aggravated, nails digging into the soft carpet beneath his paws as he recalled her sleeping form being there just last night. How could that be? How could she have been there, been home and safe just a few hours ago and now not be? It felt like it'd been ages ago. How was that even possible? It wasn't.

Or, at least, it shouldn't be.

_Lifeless brown eyes stared up at him_..._hated him_...

Dour thoughts loomed at the back of his mind, pushing to get out, quietly urging him to replace the brown eyes with blue. He couldn't.

No, he _wouldn't _permit himself to. If he did then he knew he'd have to accept a worst case scenario. The whole idea of what his mind suggested only worked to further nettle him. It wasn't until he heard the scraping of wood that he realized he'd torn through the carpet to the underlying floorboards. Huffing, he tugged Crona's blanket over the newly made hole, supposing Maka couldn't complain over what she didn't know about.

Hearing her bitch over a cut up carpet was the last thing he needed right now. He nearly went back to his clawing at the floor but stopped. Forcing himself to calm down after a few minutes, he sighed, lying down in front of the unoccupied space and wondered as to where Crona was. He wondered if she were okay or if, as he had guessed, she'd gotten herself into trouble.

His typically dark thoughts were snuffed out, as he silently hoped–for once–that he was wrong about what he'd said earlier.

A brief flash of memory displayed a malnourished eevee with dead, hopeless eyes.

Growling, he shifted impatiently unable to forget that weakling that hadn't been able to defeat a puny charmander. Hell, she'd been unable to beat a caterpie! It felt like he'd always been there for her, always protected her, even when he hurt her it felt like he'd protected her. To be separated felt...wrong...as though he had lost a piece of himself. A fresh wave of anger washed over him as he silently blamed their trainer for this feeling of loss, for this entire separation.

_Crona_...


	4. Chapter 4

Quaking, Crona felt terribly frightened. She'd decided to wander about until Kid came looking for her, but the house was so huge that she soon became lost in a library that would have made Maka squeal out of joy. No, she'd be too happy to squeal. She'd either cry like other human girls or throw up like her dad sometimes did when she announced she would spend the day with him.

Sitting beneath a table, she sighed as her ears fell to lay uselessly against her head. She closed her eyes to try and drift off into a peaceful slumber only to be interrupted by the sounds of quiet pawsteps. Opening her soft blues, Crona sat up to scan her surroundings.

She was completely alone. Or so she thought since she didn't see or smell anyone; however, she could still hear the quiet paws as they rose and fell against the floor not too far off.

The sylveon's heart thudded a bit harder in her chest as she started to feel a tad spooked, completely oblivious to the pink striped tail that hung off the side of the table behind her until she begun backing up, walking straight into the fluffy appendage, which was quick to give her a shock.

Yelping, she jolted forwards in fear and attempted to make a run for it only to have some sort of screeching creature leap onto her back.

**Yee-haw!** Said creature exclaimed loudly, holding onto Crona's feelers like they were reins and causing the sylveon to scream in a combination of pain and panic, forcing her legs to move even faster. Laughing and cheering, the creature on her back encouraged her to keep moving with tugs to her feelers and exclamations of '**Faster, faster!**'; '**Go this way!**'; '**No** **that way!**'; '**Harder, faster, run, run, run!**'; and of course, '**Don't slow down, little dokey!**'

Eventually, however, Crona found herself having no choice but to stop due to an overwhelming exhaustion. She came to a halt in a hallway, legs buckling and body stumbling, rolling forwards head over tail. She crashed against a wall, hitting it so hard that a picture fell atop her to crush her already sore, battered body. Whoever, or whatever, had been on her back must have landed on its/their feet because they were now shouting in alarm, or no, they were laughing and somebody else was shouting in alarm. _Kid? _The sylveon's weary mind wondered as the picture was lifted up off her. She looked up with watery eyes to see who'd moved the picture.

No, not Kid. Definitely not Kid. Not even human.

It was a pachirisu who stood before her wearing a red bandanna, staring at her with a mixture of awe and concern, as she sat the heavy picture frame off to the side.

**Are you all right? **She asked, brushing away whatever dust had gotten onto Crona's fur. She helped Crona to her sore, trembling feet with a sigh. **I'm sorry if Patty was being too rough on you. She just gets carried away at times.**

**Sis!** Another pachirisu, a _pink _striped pachirisu, shouted from down the hall. **Did you see how she cart-wheeled? It was so cool!**

**Yeah, it was great.** She rolled her dark eyes as she said that, huffing as she tried not to think about how badly this could have ended. Smiling softly, she decided to make a good impression since Patty had already succeeded in scaring the daylights out of their guest.

**Anyway, my name is Liz. That's my little sister Patty, as you may know, since you guys have kind of already met. So, what's your name?**

**Umm, m-my name?**

**Yeah. Who else would I be talking to?**

**M-my name is Cr-Crona**, she replied nervously, though at the same time felt a candle flame spark within her mind. **Are you...you're Kid's pokemon, right?**

**Huh? Yeah, why?** Realization seemed to make itself clear within the pachirisu's eyes and soon after a look of outrage came over her face. **Wait a minute! Was he trying to hide you from us?!**

**Hide!** Patty sang, laughing and scampering about in a manner most childish. **Hide! Hide! Hidey-hide-hide-oh-ho!**

**No!** Crona exclaimed, cringing at the rise in Liz's tone.** No, he wasn't trying to hide me from anyone! Except...that girl...maybe...**

**Oh**, Liz murmured, tone flat, as she stared at the sylveon. She'd assumed that Crona had been the pokemon of a guest, seeing as guests came and went for meetings or to just hang around for a short time, but if her master were trying to hide Crona from _that _girl then that meant her stay was probably going to be longer than what was acceptable, perhaps her stay would be indefinite.

There was a moment where nobody said anything, but then Patty said something about Kid and went scampering off. Reluctant to let her sister bother their master, Liz followed after along with Crona, who was reluctant to be alone at all.

It was just a good thing the sisters knew of a shortcut to get back to a rather familiar looking hall. They were at the door to Kid's room rather quickly. The door was open and the lights on. Liz and Patty scampered inside without a second's thought. Crona was nervous though, not seeing the kind human who'd taken her in made her wonder if she were permitted inside or not.

"Oh, there you are," a sudden relieved voice made her jump. Looking over her shoulder, Crona saw Kid standing a short distance away and seeming very glad to have found her. He wore a black coat over a white pajama shirt and blue pajama pants. He pulled it off as he moved to where he stood in the doorway to his room, looking down at the sylveon thoughtfully.

"For a moment," he confessed, "I was worried Ponera had thrown you out. It's a good thing I decided to come look for Liz and Patty."

As if cued, Patty then leapt at him, climbing his pants and hopping up to sit on his shoulder where she giggled playfully and ruffled his hair. "No, stop!" Kid scolded, pulling the pokemon from his shoulder. "Patty, stop!" He finally managed to pull the small pachirisu from his being and sat her on the floor where she stuck her tongue out at him before going off to jump atop Liz who'd finally started to relax, lying on what appeared to be a black beanbag.

"Come on," Kid said, as he lifted Crona up, "it's too late and much too wet for us to try finding your owner so you'll have to stay here." He sat her on the foot of his bed. She lay there, confused and tensed as she felt Liz and Patty gape from her to their master.

**Okay, umm, thank you. **Crona mumbled before Kid turned out the lights and closed the door. He then went to crawl underneath the covers and go to sleep. Crona tried to also sleep, but was unused to sleeping on a bed.

Maka had tried to get Crona to sleep on the foot of her bed many times before in the past, but that spot was already designated to Soul and Crona didn't want to risk their friendship by taking his special spot. Besides, the corner wasn't so bad. In fact, Crona had grown a soft spot for it and found comfort there whenever she was upset. So much comfort that she had decided to refer to it as Mr. Corner, despite how Maka discouraged her from naming a corner.

Crona missed Mr. Corner.

She missed her blanket and usual sleeping style. But most of all, Crona missed her family's presence. They had all shared Maka's room instead of spending the night locked up in some pokeball alone. Crona had her corner, of course. Maka her bed, which she shared with Soul, and Tsubaki had been sleeping in a hammock that had been fashioned using one of Maka's old sweaters she'd planned to throw away. Black*Star usually slept wherever he felt like it. Ragnarok was the same way, though he alternated between the doorway and Maka's closet. Sometimes he would lay with Crona in her corner, but always told her to not read much into it.

She missed Ragnarok's body heat and his strong heartbeat that sometimes thudded steadily in her ears, lulling her to sleep. She missed Soul's weird mumbling while he dreamed. She missed Maka's quiet, steady breathing and Tsubaki's comforting presence. She even missed Black*Star's sleep drool.

It was then she felt a sharp pang in her chest. It hurt terribly and tears dribbled their way down her cheeks as the homesickness began eating her up and she feared never seeing her family of friends ever again. _What if they don't find me? _A part of her chattered. _What if they hate me now?_ Another part sobbed. _What if they don't care at all? _A dark little corner of her mind whispered. She could hear Liz and Patty whispering about now and it didn't help her sleep any better.

**What's going on? Kid never let us up on his bed.**

**She's probably his new, little pet.**

**Master's pet!**

**Shh! Don't wake them up!**

Her eyes stung as she tried to stay quiet, feeling awful about how she was intruding in their domicile, unintentionally earning the favor of their master and gaining special benefits that the pachirisu never had. She wished she were home. At least she knew nobody there would make her feel guilty for being loved. Maybe it was selfish of her but she didn't want to feel bad about Kid liking her nor did she wish to continue hearing Liz and Patty's whispered conversation.

Silently peeking over her shoulder, she watched Kid as he slept. He looked so nice and peaceful. She hoped he was a deep sleeper.

Inching her way up the bed, she nuzzled herself against Kid's side, feeling a lot safer and somewhat better as she tried to pretend the human's heartbeat was that of someone else. Closing her eyes, Crona slowly drifted off into a gentle slumber.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author Note: This chapter will consist of dreams, but I didn't want to make it all italics this time around so please keep in mind that this isn't part of the main plot. It just kind of goes over the past and is meant to focus more on Crona and Ragnarok's relationship.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own either Soul Eater or Pokemon. Although, you have to admit the idea of a crossover**_** is**_** intriguing.**

* * *

Brown eyes gaped in horror at the human female and her pokemon cohorts as they approached. It didn't take more than a minute for her to turn, breaking into a sprint. Caramel colored paws pounded against the earth as the world left behind exploded into sounds of fierce battle and three sets of paws came after her in swift pursuit.

She ducked and maneuvered around trees and thorn bushes, managing to lose two of her pursuers, but one kept after her no matter what she did. Glancing over her shoulder she saw the houndour was closing in fast. Eventually, she was forced to slow down upon arriving at an old, hollowed out tree, which she and her mate had made their home just last spring. Except that home had became a grave for two innocent babes, now a third was being attempted and she feared their child would now grow up without its father.

Their home had been where she had planned to hide, hopefully where her mate would meet her at if he defeated those pokemon and escaped the clutches of that human, but those hopes had been crushed by that tenacious houndour that kept up with her. She made her stand there, brown orbs defiant and cream colored fur bristling as she prepared for attack.

The battle didn't last more than twenty minutes.

The houndour couldn't believe that the puny leafeon had tried to stand up to him. There was an obvious type disadvantage, not to mention how that run had left her drained considering how she'd been working hard, searching for berries with her mate, beforehand. Still, she struggled to stand and keep fighting.

**Give it up, bitch, **the houndour growled, knowing her struggles were futile, **you're finished.**

**No! I refuse to let you harm my child!**

_'Child'? _Looking around the houndour expected to see an eevee, but found they were completely alone, though he caught the leafeon glancing to a tree behind her and understood that was where it must've been hiding. He doubted his trainer would be interested in it, especially when they already found a pair of grown leafeon. Still, he knew if his trainer got an eevee then she'd be able to grow it into whatever suited her needs, which explained why the leafeon was so protective of it.

He was about to move forwards to try and investigate when the scent of blood wafted through the air and the presence of his master and five other pokemon made him turn. Leafeon gaped at the pair of serviper that were grinning at her. The blood of her beloved mate was dripping off their poison laced fangs and falling to stain the once pure green grass below their heavy, viper bodies.

Her cry of grief and horror was cut short as one of the snakes struck swiftly, slashing her side with its razor-sharp tail, as its fangs sunk deeply into her back just between her shoulder blades. The leafeon's legs quaked for several minutes. She fell promptly and lay, dying slowly at the feet of the houndour that had pursued her. The hate in her eyes was unmistakable, as was the confusion, sadness, and fear just before her life finished draining away from her once loving brown hues.

"Disappointing," he heard his trainer murmur with a sigh, returning three of the five she had arrived with. "These pokemon are too weak. We should go. Perhaps, we'll get lucky next time around."

The houndour knew he was to follow her, but his eyes were stuck on the leafeon, and then they were slowly drifting up to stare at the hollowed out tree. Padding over, he peered inside somewhat stunned to see a small brown egg with a cream-colored zigzag band surrounding its middle. It was flashing a dim, silvery light every few minutes, bringing light to its empty, darkened home.

_It's going to hatch_, he realized numbly, none too certain how to respond. He felt a tad sick. This child was going to be born an orphan and it was partly his fault. It would hate him just as its mother had in her final moments. He was sure of it.

"What are you staring at?"

He tensed, tempted to wince at hearing that voice so close behind him. Backing away, he allowed his trainer to take the egg from its nest. She examined it with great care and interest. "So," she murmured, sounding rather pleased, "today wasn't a complete waste after all."

Half an hour later, they were back at the cabin they'd been staying at for the past few days. The human, who was known to many in the human world as Professor Medusa Gorgon, had been doing research on the berries of the area and the effects they had on the forest pokemon; however, she'd also been doing some hunting on the side, searching out pokemon and killing them if they disappointed her, which most usually did.

The egg was flashing more rapidly by the time they had arrived.

It finally hatched after one particularly bright flash. In its place now sat a newborn eevee. It was small and fluffy, quite fragile looking in appearance. Its dark eyes took in the world for the very first time, but instead of the nature and loving guardians its parents had wished for it to see, it saw a human and that was who the child imprinted on.

**Mama?**

If not for the toying smile his mistress wore, the houndour would have laughed at the baby's assumption. He watched warily as the human stroked her fingers through the eevee's fur, humming quietly as she inspected the baby for any noticeable flaws or deformities.

He waited for her to throw the helpless kid to the serviper that were also watching, waiting for their mistress to be unsatisfied and toss them their afternoon meal. The air was heavy with tension and the only sounds that filled the room were that of her humming and the baby's quiet mewls as it was stroked and patted throughout the entire thirty minute inspection.

Finally, it was over and the serviper were still hungry. The houndour relaxed slightly, but that only lasted for a short two seconds.

"Ragnarok," she called, sitting the little eevee down on the floor, "this is your responsibility from now on. You're not to let anything bad happen to her. After all, it's not every day a female eevee is born." There was a pause as she then turned a sharp glance to her pokemon. "When I'm not training her you're solely responsible for her. Understand?"

The houndour stared at his mistress for a moment in disbelief before giving a reluctant nod. Nobody told this human no without suffering some form of abuse. Or worse.

He cast a weak glare to the eevee whilst she stared at him curiously. He gave her a quick jab with his front paw, knocking her over, causing her to give a small yelp and earning a brief glance from their mistress who didn't seem to really care so long as he didn't kill her newest possession.

**Why you do that?** She whimpered, looking teary-eyed.

**Because**, Ragnarok growled in response, **I'm not a babysitter. **Slinking off to lie down across the room and sulk about his new burden, which followed closely behind mewling pathetically, he could already tell this kid was going to be nothing but trouble.

Still, he let her copy and cuddle up beside him, knowing the serviper were watching her. He gave them a threatening glare, which did little to daunt them considering he was fairly young himself and posed little threat to the two of them. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to let anything bad happen to the eevee, not when it was his skin on the line.

**Bah!** She whined, climbing over him to crouch low, effectively hiding herself.

**What are you doing?**

**Play hide, wanna play?**

**Sure,** he sighed, glancing around the room before spotting the nearby closet where Medusa kept her science coat and outdoors jacket as well as a pair of boots and an umbrella. **Why don't you try hiding in there?**

**Okay,** the baby nodded, eager to please her newest friend. Wobbling her way over with the houndour following closely behind she peered inside curiously before glancing back to Ragnarok who was totally puzzled by the wide-eyed look she gave him.

He'd never before seen anything so adorably endearing and innocently inquisitive. It made him...soften? No. He may have reconsidered his actions for a brief moment, but he ultimately nudged her into the closet where she then began investigating the boots. She'd climbed halfway into one before he closed the door on her, yawning and going back to where he'd laid before he decided she was perfectly safe.

He wasn't there for five minutes before her scared whimpers and panicked yipping alerted their mistress of her whereabouts, earning him a good kick when Medusa found one of her boots had been partially chewed. And instead of screeching at the chewer she chose to shout at Ragnarok, giving him a firm swat with the boot and throwing both him and the eevee outside for the rest of the night.

And what did the eevee have to say about all this?

**I sowwy**...

He snarled at her apology, which left him enraged despite the genuine sincerity she displayed. He bopped her with a paw, growling and hoping to find somewhere to be alone and sleep. However, wherever he went his newest burden followed closely behind. And before he knew it he was lying beneath a blossoming apple tree with the eevee curled up asleep beneath his front paws and his head resting gently atop her soft fur that smelt new and fresh, making him feel sort of...off...

**Umm**, she murmured in her sleep, **lub you**...

Yep, she was definitely going to be a lot of trouble.

* * *

**Isn't she cute? **An umbreon murmured. Two of his friends nodded in agreement, smirking as they all watched the same eevee sit silently across the vast room.

Her fur shone dully in the moonlight, which poured through one of the numerous warehouse windows. She didn't appear particularly well-fed or like she'd win any beauty shows, but she was still quite cute in spite of the haunted gleam that shone within her unstable brown hues.

**Yeah**, a mightyena friend sighed, as he watched the eevee begin pacing, mumbling quietly to herself, **too bad I'm not into the normal-types.**

**Really?** The third friend, a zangoose, snickered. **Well, it's your loss.** **I, personally, wouldn't mind taking her outside and making her scream–**

**What did you say?** The three turned to see a young houndoom, who stood glowering at them hatefully. Disgust and rage burned like embers within his fierce gaze.

If not for the fact their masters had agreed to work together then these five wouldn't be guarding the contents of this warehouse. Hell, the houndoom would've torn these other three males to pieces if not for the fact his mistress would be pissed off about it later. Ever since he and Crona arrived they'd been ogling her and talking quietly amongst themselves, snickering.

Ragnarok didn't very much like that. And after what he'd just heard he had a pretty good idea what they'd been so talkative about. In less than a minute he had the zangoose pinned to the floor. The umbreon and mightyena both scrambled backwards, staring wide-eyed at the houndoom, whilst the eevee they'd been talking about stared at them in confusion from across the room.

**What did you say?** He snarled again, teeth dangerously close to the zangoose's throat.

**N-nothing!**

**It didn't sound like nothing, you perverted little pissant! I should tear your throat out right now!**

**N-no, don't-**

**Lighten up,** Umbreon interjected, his ruby gaze cautious as he spoke.** It's not as though we knew she was your mate.**

**She's not!**

**Oh, is that so?** This news seemed to amuse the dark-type, who smirked.

**Are you related in some way? **Mightyena questioned. **Is she your sister?**

**No-**

**Then you don't have a claim to her,** Umbreon concluded with a dark smile. Glancing over to the eevee who was seeming quite disturbed by their quarreling. **Who knows, perhaps she'd be interested in someone of her own kind.**

**You go anywhere near her and I swear to Arceus I'll kill you.**

**Why? You already said-**

**Shut up!** He barked, tail lashing furiously as he glowered at the trio. His ember hues blazed and for a minute the mightyena could've sworn he saw smoke coming from the houndoom's nostrils. **She's my partner and if even one of you perverts so much as brush up against her,** a pause to flash them a predatory smile,** you'll wish you suffered a fate worse than death.**

Needless to say, none of them had anything more to add, letting the houndoom storm pass without so much as blinking. He was soon over near the eevee who stared at the floor beneath her paws, ears flat against her skull as he approached. **What was that about? **She mumbled. **Did I do something wrong? You kept looking over at me**... The houndoom was tempted to whop her between the ears for being so stupid. It always bugged him when she apologized for no reason and blamed herself when she clearly wasn't at fault. Staring at her silently for a long moment he finally broke the silence by delivering a hard pop between her ears with a front paw.

Yelping, she fell to the floor, rubbing the top of her head with her two front paws and giving pained whimpers as she stared up at the houndoom through angry, teary eyes. **Why'd you do that?** She asked, sounding meek as she started to tremble with restrained rage that she would never have the courage to direct at him. It'd always be their enemies who took this anger. In the meantime, it would sit and build, slowly poisoning her as she held her emotions in. **What'd I do this time?**

**You're a complete idiot**, her partner growled, making her cringe as he turned an absolutely hateful glare on her. If she bothered to pay full attention instead of sink low to the floor with her eyes closed then she'd have probably noticed he was looking over her shoulder rather than directly at her.

A faint, low echo of metallic whining caught their attention. It went unnoticed by the frightened eevee, as her partner watched the mightyena turn to pad off along with the zangoose to investigate whatever the source of that noise was. They were most likely going to screw something up, but he couldn't very well take Crona with him, and yet at the same instance he couldn't leave her there, not with that damn umbreon.

Glancing behind them he noticed a good hiding place for her and supposed that'd keep her safe for the time being. She almost screamed when she felt his teeth at the back of her neck. Shivering, the eevee felt so helpless. Useless. She had never been too big on standing up for herself. There was a whimper of pain as he lifted her up and roughly dropped her to where she was left in a small space between two crates and a roof formed by some metal pipes that had been left stacked atop them.

**Stay here**, he ordered.** I'll be back in a few minutes**, and with that being said he turned to stalk off. **N-no, wait– **She watched him leave with silvery droplets leaking from the corners of her frightened hues. **Oh**...Breathing quietly, she laid her head between her paws and sniffled quietly.

Why did she always feel bad when he left? He hurt her, but...

Oh, dear, that was really confusing.

Lying there with her head between her quivering paws, Crona tried to not think about anything, but her mind always wandered from one thing to another. It was usually something depressing. Closing her eyes she tried really hard to make the pressure in her head recede. Why did he have to do these things to her? Ever since she could remember he had been there and ever since she could remember he'd bullied her, and yet she was unable to hate him as much as he sometimes seemed to hate her. Her ears twitched suddenly and she let out a soft squeak as she then noticed someone standing in front of her.

**Hello**, a gentle voice greeted. She whimpered, staring at the umbreon who'd crept over so silently, as he stared down at her with an odd smile crossing his dark canine features.

Whimpering, she scooted back further into her hiding space, knowing her partner would be enraged if he found out she talked with the umbreon. Ever since they'd arrived he'd been uneasy and suspicious of the three pokemon they were left to work alongside. She had no idea why though. They seemed kind of nice.

**Oh, don't be afraid**, Umbreon tried to soothe. **I won't hurt you.**

**Ragnarok told me not to talk with you.**

**Oh? Is that his name?**

She nodded.

**He's rather rude. He wouldn't introduce himself, not like me and my friends did.**

She nodded again.

**Unlike you two we don't have nicknames.** He sighed, trying to keep the conversation going alone. **We're simply who we are.** Crona didn't seem to particularly care about all this nonsense he was using, knowing fully well there was something more attached to his motives for speaking with her. Initially, he'd planned to just beat around the bush before pouncing on the reason he'd came over, but it seemed she was wanting him to cut to the chase.** Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to talk? Maybe somewhere more private? It'll be an eevee to umbreon sort of thing. Don't you think it'd be nice to speak with someone of your own kind?**

**N-no thank you**, Crona murmured with a shake of her head. Her eyes were downcast as she continued mumbling, **I don't know how to deal with my kind.**

**Ah, I see. **Umbreon said, moving forwards another step and crouching low next to her, apparently enjoying the feel of being so close. The feelings weren't mutual. **Perhaps **_**I**_** could help you deal with it. Ever think of that?** He pressed against her, severely limiting her movements. She was completely cornered now. He had the advantage and they both knew it.

Crona just didn't know, nor understand why he was scaring her. Was it to get back at Ragnarok? She didn't know, she just wanted him to stop.

**Hmm?** He prompted.

She shook her head.

**Or, if you'd like, I could teach you something fun.**

**F-fun?**

**That's right.**

**I don't know how to deal with fun...**

He scowled, blood eyes giving off a hint of annoyance. Okay, so she was starting to get on his nerves. Big deal. She knew she was annoying, tiresome, burdensome...blah, blah, blah...it was a long list.

**C'mon, I promise you'll love it.**

**I don't kn-**

**Or are you so afraid of **_**him **_**that you won't explore the unknown?**

**I don't know how to deal with the unknown!** **I just don't want to**...**to**...

_To what?_ How was she to finish that sentence? Shaking, she could feel his body heat radiating off him now that they were so close. Whimpering and shivering, the eevee felt his teeth against the back of her neck. It was like what Ragnarok had done, except it was a lot gentler. Nevertheless, she yelped and squirmed in the dark-type's hold, scared as he forced her from her hiding space and started dragging her off across the room.

She might've had a chance at escape if she weren't so puny and frail, but due to a combination of neglect and malnourishment she was practically a four-legged twig.

**L-let go!** She exclaimed, still squirming even as he drug her outside through a hole in the wall that had been well hidden by a piece of tin leaning against the once hidden exit. **Let go!** She barely realized that they were outside even as he dropped her onto the hard asphalt. **What are you doing?!** She demanded, cowering low to the ground as she stared up at him, eyes narrowed mistrustfully.

**Nothing**, Umbreon murmured, smiling innocently as he started circling her. She tried to keep up with each move he made, but found it somewhat hard when he moved so quickly. Luckily, his rings were lighting up so the glow gave him away whenever he entered her peripheral vision.

**Hmm, you're rather cute.**

**Huh?** She gaped at him in shocked confusion. **Wh-what'd you say?**

**Tell me, what do you know about mating?**

**M-mating?** She echoed. Her expression made it evident that she had no idea what that was, causing Umbreon to give a quiet chuckle. The sound made her cringe. His soft, velvety breath caressed her ear as he suddenly stopped his circling to lean down close to her, causing her to spring back from him in fear. **You're still practically a child, aren't you? **Umbreon cooed mockingly, seeming rather amused with her immaturity.

Whimpering, Crona glared at him, not at all liking how this situation was turning out. She eyed the hole they'd came from for about a second, but that was all it took for the dark-type to understand her thoughts and they were both making a dash for it at the same instance. None too surprisingly it was Umbreon who reached it first, blocking her path. Growling, he glared at her menacingly forcing her to start backing away. Ears flat against her skull and fur bristling, Crona knew the only way to get back in was to fight. Sadly, she sucked at fighting and knew before she even threw the first attack that she was done for.

All it really took was a single well-aimed shadow ball to knock her off her paws. She flew back and landed hard against the ground, groaning as she struggled to get up, but was unable to due to her senses having been knocked out of her. _So many pretty starmie..._ Her dazed mind thought as lights flashed off and on behind her eyes whilst the star-like pokemon danced over her head in a perfect 180 degree circle.

**Now, if you're done being difficult–**

She attempted one last attack. Too bad she was seeing double and aimed for the one on the right rather than the left, not only missing but allowing him to tackle her from the side, pinning her to the ground with his front paws. There was a short, sharp yip as her head smacked against the ground and all the lights went out.

No starmie, no doubles, no anything...

Returning from his investigation, Ragnarok felt like pestering his partner. If only to help put him in a good mood and remind her who was in charge seeing as she wanted to backtalk earlier. Imagine his surprise when he found out she was gone. Growling, he gave the room a good look over, spotting an opening in the wall that had once been covered by tin that had been pushed over to the side. Cursing silently, he ran for the exit in a near panic, imagining all of the worst-case scenarios before he even made it out. Freezing, he stared at the umbreon who stood over a battered eevee appearing rather triumphant as he towered over her beaten frame.

Ragnarok could feel the blood pounding in his ears and slowly a veil of red fell over his vision.

Crona groaned as she finally came to.

Weak rays of sunlight poured through the warehouse windows, alerting her to morning's arrival. Shaking at the immense pain that shot through her skull and torso she tried to look around only to wince as her eyes were briefly blinded by the weak rays of sunshine. Standing on shaky legs she nearly fell at the powerful scent that assaulted her nostrils. It was a powerful, metallic, sickeningly sweet sort of scent that whispered frightening lullabies and signaled the close to a life long lived.

Death hung heavy in the air.

She took in shaky inhales and exhales as she looked around, scared and confused beyond belief. Scrambling to her feet and giving the room a frantic once-over she quickly spotted a familiar black and white form lying not all that far off. She limped over, nudging her partner weakly with her nose against his shoulder.

**Wake up**, she croaked out weakly, **please, Ragnarok, wake up.** Her efforts went unrewarded as he simply chose to shift position to where he now lay on his back with his paws all up in the air. If not for her current state Crona probably would've found this to be comical. Presently, however, it was just an annoyance as she made one last attempt at waking him only to end up with a paw at her throat and enraged amber orbs glaring down at her.

**What the hell?** He snarled, getting off his choking partner and watching as she struggled to regain her breath. **What're you doing waking me up so early?**

**Th-that...that smell...death...wh-what...what happened?**

**Oh, right**, he sighed, tail lashing angrily as he turned a cold glare past the eevee. His gaze shifted between Crona and someplace beyond the room. For a minute all was silent. **Don't worry**, he finally said, **I took care of it.**

**Took...care of what?**

**Those three pervs**, he said, rolling his eyes like the answer should've been obvious. He didn't hesitate in adding, **You owe me. Big time.**

**You killed them?! **She exclaimed. Her entire body went cold. She hated how that umbreon had treated her, but...she hadn't wanted him to die...she hadn't wanted anyone to die! But...

**Wh-what for? I don't...I don't understand!**

The houndoom rolled his eyes, **No surprise.**

**Ragnarok! What happened? Why'd he...why did you...ugh! I don't know how to deal with any of this!**

**That's your problem, Crona,** Ragnarok growled, starting to pace back and forth out of frustration, **you never have to deal with anything. Not when I'm the one always saving your skin! You let that umbreon win! You let him touch you and take you outside even though **_**I**_** told you to stay here!** He stopped his pacing, turning to Crona in one swift motion. He seethed with rage as he towered over her diminutive form, looking ready to take a bite out of the poor eevee as she gaped up at him helplessly, not knowing what it was her partner was going on and on about.

**Yesterday I barely managed to save your tail and if I hadn't figured out you were gone then you would've been hurt-**

**And you would've gotten blamed, **Crona interjected with irritation reflecting in her pained hues, **I know that and I'm sorry, but it's not like I had a choice! He made me go with him and he-**

Cutting herself off, she then remembered what he'd asked her, what he'd said and she felt her curiosity flaring up a bit. What was it Umbreon had intended to do? He'd mentioned mating, but she had no clue what it was that he had meant. Her dark hues turned to her partner then.

Ragnarok was older than her, not by all that much, but still he must've known something about mating. So why wouldn't he tell her if he knew? Curious, she tried to approach the topic carefully now that she had it in her mind.

**He asked me about something**...

**Don't think too much on it.** Ragnarok said, attempting to dismiss it and speaking a bit too sharply for her liking. **Whatever it was probably isn't important.**

**No,** she disagreed, thinking back to what the umbreon had said,** it sounded important. He said...he said something...about mating.**

She noticed her partner visibly tense. His claws were digging into the concrete floor, leaving rigid lines in the stone's surface, as he stood silently analyzing the sincerity in her expression. It didn't last long and he eventually turned his gaze off to the side. **So what?** He murmured.

**What is that? I've never heard about it before.**

**Because you're a complete moron.** He snarled, feeling the urge to smack her before this conversation escalated any further. He didn't, of course, due to his building interest in where this conversation would lead.

**So, you know about it?**

**Yeah.**

**Okay**, she said slowly, **so why haven't you told me about it?**

**Because**... His words trailed off as he tried to not think of the selfish reasoning he had behind it all. Sure, there were a ton of other reasons and excuses, but it was the main big one he stood by and even he–with his lack of morals and manners–knew it was completely selfish.

**Why?**

He sighed. It was more from annoyance than anything else. He looked into her eyes and the innocence he found there was overwhelming. She wasn't corrupted, she wasn't a complete monster, she was...actually...pretty okay just the way she was. Most importantly, though, _she was his_. Everyone knew it. Well, almost everyone. As far as their mistress was concerned they were both her property and Crona seemed a bit ignorant at times.

At any rate, he figured that if he could keep her ignorant of the...ahem, more mature...areas in life then she'd stay pure and, by default, also remain his. Logical? Yes. Idiotic? Possibly. Selfish? Most definitely.

**It's not something you'd tell kids about.**

Lame excuse. True. But it was still pretty lame.

**I'm not a kid!** She argued defensively. **I can fight now and I don't need anyone to look after me.**

Ragnarok gave a snort of laughter at that and she knew it was a bad line to end with considering what'd happened the previous night. But he knew she had a point in spite of it. She wasn't a kid anymore. She was old enough to mate if she wanted to and, as much as he hated it, she could pick someone as her mate if she desired to do so. Something he'd hoped he could make her postpone indefinitely, but now that she was asking about it Ragnarok knew she wouldn't just shut up about it if he rebuked her.

Besides, if he didn't explain things to her then someone else eventually would, someone who'd probably try to take advantage of her ignorance to use it against or possibly harm her. So he explained what it was and meant and she took it rather well. She sat with her fluffy tail curled around her feet and ears drooping slightly while a faint flush rose in her cheeks and slowly spread across her muzzle. She seemed embarrassed for reasons he weren't too clear on, but she seemed to take it pretty well.

There wasn't any whining or big freak out like he'd expected.

Although, he imagined he'd prefer handling that than just sitting there in that awkward silence. It was a long while before she said anything, seeming reluctant to speak, though at the same time the words were ready to spring from her. And after one more reluctant moment of silence they just tumbled from her mouth and off the tip of her tongue, **Is that what you want?**

His entire form froze. Ragnarok could feel his teeth clench together as he stared at her, completely bemused as to what made her vocalize that question. Overall, though, he was just flat out stunned she'd asked _that_.

**Ragnarok? **Her timid voice continued shyly. **Do you want to...umm...m-mate with me? Is that why you didn't like those guys being around me?**

Now he could feel _his _face–no, his entire form heat up slightly. Whether it was because he was getting pissed off with her inquiries or because the idea was so appealing, he wasn't entirely sure. But he sure as hell wasn't about to let her think he thought it was...even if he sort of did...

Actually, she'd hit the nail right on the head with her line of questioning, which was why he slammed a paw down against her head, knocking her down whilst he raked his nails through her fur, making sure to be gentle to avoid tearing her skull apart, as he messed up the patch of fur that rested between her long ears.

**St-stop it! **She whined, trying to bat his paw away only to land a blow so pathetic it made him think of an infant swatting at an adult. Whereas, she wasn't an infant she was still about as weak as one. He had no idea what level she was on, but he seriously doubted she was past level five. Their mistress's forms of training were quite brutal and Crona never really caught on to them, usually suffering the consequences of failure rather than completing the harsh training sessions.

Giving her a good shove with the same paw after a few minutes he watched as she rolled then sat up to stare at him with wide, tepid eyes. **What was that for?** She whined, trembling all over as she tried to fix the fur he'd messed up.

**For being so stupid!** He barked, exhaling a hot puff of air that slightly warmed the air near her face. It stung her eyes and startled her, making her wince. **Why would I want to do **_**that**_**? **He demanded, making sure he appeared disgusted by the notion.** Why would anyone want to do **_**that **_**with **_**you**_**? You're too plain. Real boring. And useless.**

**But-**

**I didn't like those three being around you because they were perverts. It's nothing more or less than that.**

**Then why-**

**We're partners and, as much as I hate it, you're my responsibility.**

She didn't seem satisfied with his answers. Frowning, her eyes reflected hurt brought on by the insults and she nodded absentmindedly in reluctant agreement. **I guess it's silly to think anyone would like me like that, huh? **She murmured, body language turning melancholic as she sat there letting the houndoom's words sink in. He gritted his teeth together, growling quietly in frustration, as he watched her just sit there and brood.

Honestly, if at all possible he'd have preferred disappearing to watching her get all depressed. So, in a futile attempt to pacify her, he leaned down and gave her a quick lick between the ears once more messing her fur up but also earning a shocked stare from the frail eevee.

**What?** He growled, looking away. **You're not**...**that bad**...

There was a pause, and then...

**Thank you.** She whispered, blushing as she let her lips tug up into a little smile. He seemed to calm down and she tried to pretend that he was smiling, too. If she'd looked up she'd have seen her imagination was a reality. Not that he'd let her see as he tried distancing himself, hearing the faint, vaguely muffled sound of an engine approaching from outside. **Don't read too much into it.** He said, without turning as he headed for the locked double doors that were across the room.

And with a gentle smile gracing her typically dismal features, she followed after him.

* * *

**Okay, so I have sucky time management skills; however, I have yet to stop working on this so I think I'm doing a pretty good job! I do, however, apologize for any of you who were bummed to see such a long chapter. I didn't mean for it to turn out like this, but...*shrugs* it just happened. But I thank those of you who were patient enough to wait and promise to keep writing on this, though I am uncertain when the next post will be. Once again, thanks for reading and being so patient. Until next time, see ya!**

**x)**

**~Sincerely, Fairylust~**


	6. Chapter 6

Gasping, Crona woke from her sleep with a start. She had to take a good look around before she remembered where she was, nearly screaming when she saw an unfamiliar human staring at her.

"You're awake," he murmured, extending a hand to pet her. Crona happily accepted his affectionate touch, needing something to remind her she wasn't completely unloved after recalling that awful experience. She was just glad that Ragnarok hadn't been a complete jerk. She had really been hoping that he would've said he liked her when she asked. No, instead he pointed out her faults and hurt her feelings; although, he did try to be nice afterwards so it wasn't...entirely awful...

Anyway, she let Kid pet her and she climbed into his lap just as she would with Maka, nuzzling against his chest as he gave a quiet 'hmm' sound. "You appeared to be having a bad dream," he said, though it felt like he were talking to himself rather than her, "was your last home so awful you'd have nightmares? Or was it something else?"

**Something else! **She hastily replied. **It's something else, really! Maka's been really nice to me and so has Soul and Tsubaki and Black*Star, and even Ragnarok isn't as mean as he used to be because of her!**

"Calm down!" Kid exclaimed, setting the panicked pokemon on the floor. "I swear, you're perhaps one of the most delicate-natured creatures I have ever met."

Her ears wilted and she went shamefaced. **I'm sorry**...

"Don't get sad," he said with an apologetic look, "I didn't mean anything bad by it and I'm sorry if I made you think that. I suppose that's just how you are, hmm?" She gave a timid smile, wrapping a feeler around his fingers to show she accepted his apology. He sighed, gently stroking the feeler that had wrapped itself around his digits. He couldn't help but to admire the soft quality of the fur.

"So, are you ready to find your owner or would you prefer to wait until after breakfast?"

**Breakfast would be nice, but...**

Her expression said it all. Eyes filled with longing and body language void of any positive emotion. Standing after giving her one last pat to the head Kid headed for the door. Crona gave a quiet gasp of elation before she realized she wasn't moving. Kid called for her once from beyond the doorway, bringing about a sudden reaction. She bolted forwards as fast as she could. Unfortunately, this caused her to collide with the back of his legs throwing him off balance. He nearly fell over the edge of the stairs, luckily he managed to grab the banister before that could happen. Crona sputtered out a string of apologies, but Kid assured her he was okay. Once they were finally down the stairs, Kid fully concentrated on the task at hand rather than where he was walking.

"Before we do anything we should think about it first, all right?"

**No! I want to find Maka now!**

Her wails went ignored, as Kid produced a placoid camera from the coat closet in what Crona supposed was the living room. It's been set on the rack at the top of the closet in addition to other old-fashioned objects. He snapped a picture of her while she was staring at her little pink paws.

The flash was what caught her attention, but it was the camera spitting out the picture that made her jump. He took seven more shots following the first, making Crona wonder just why this process was necessary when Maka was probably already out at the market searching for her. Pretty blue eyes kept shifting from the floor to the doorway as she imagined herself jolting from the room and out to the streets where she'd find Maka and leap into her awaiting arms. She really felt like one of Maka's famous hugs about now.

Kid put the camera back once he was finished with it and sat on the couch to look through the pictures. Crona joined him, staring at each picture while he examined them individually. "I think I like this one best," he said, showing her the first one he'd taken. She nodded in agreement if only to pacify him. She honestly failed to see how this picture would make much of a difference.

"We'll look around the city," he explained as he put the others away, "but first I'd like to try putting your picture in the paper. It's like a backup plan if our search doesn't turn out too well."

**But...but you do think we'll find her, right?**

"I'm sure if you take us to all the places the two of you had been together, or that Maka has been alone or with someone else then I'm sure we'll run into your owner at one point."

**But...what's the chances...what if we don't? Is that even a possibility?**

"We should probably get started now. The later we wait the less likely it'd be to find them."

**What?**

"But you don't have to worry. You're welcomed to stay here for as long as you need to."

**N-no, Kid!** She grabbed his pants leg in her mouth before he could move another inch. It was bad manners, Maka had taught her that, but she was desperate for an answer and the action certainly made the human stop to look down at her. She immediately let go. Staring up at him, feeling somewhat panicked, she tried to keep herself together as she wilted slightly underneath his golden gaze.

**I don't want to stay here! I don't want to stay anywhere without Maka!**

"You must understand," he said gently, kneeling to try and pet her, but Crona cringed and flinched away from his hand. Sighing, he stood up and rubbed the back of his neck, staring off to the side instead of facing the sylveon. "This is a very big city and the chances of finding a single person are very minuscule."

**Miniwhat?**

"It's just unlikely we'll be able to locate your owner–a single preson–out of the hundreds upon hundreds of other people in the city. It could take days, possibly weeks."

**No!** She squalled, tears dribbling from the corners of her eyes. **I need to go home now! Before Maka forgets about me!**

"Don't worry, I'm sure if we take an ad out in the newspaper it'll boost your chances of being found."

Crona sniffled. **Maka has read it once or twice...**

"I promise I'll do whatever I can to help, okay?"

_You're my new best friend._ Crona decided, hugging his arm with her feelers. She nuzzled against his chest for a moment before letting him push her away. He didn't seem particularly comfortable with that sort of contact, telling her very firmly to not ever hug him like that again. It was confusing. Maka never really cared when she hugged her so why did Kid? _Must be a guy thing_, she supposed, using the very words Maka had said before in the past.

The very first time had to have been after she and Ragnarok joined up with Maka and the others. Ragnarok had been rude towards their new owner but instead of getting angry–well, angrier than she already was–Maka had rolled her eyes and said, 'Must be a guy thing.' Crona later found out she was referencing to Soul and Black*Star's rudeness/perviness, which was also, apparently, a guy thing. **'Boys will be boys,' **Tsubaki had once sighed. Crona supposed human males weren't that different from pokemales. Neither seemed to like hugs...

"Crona," Kid suddenly called, having somehow gotten to the doorway while she was deep in thought, "are you coming?"

**Huh? Oh, yeah, umm, w-wait for me!**

She bounded after him, happy once they were outside. A gentle breeze was blowing and the air smelled crisp, sort of fresh. It wasn't like the clean forest air Crona had inhaled once before, but it was still kind of nice.

Walking side-by-side with Kid, she could feel her muscles all twitching and jerking as she resisted the urge to just break into a run and leave him behind. _Maka, Soul, Ragnarok...I'm gonna find you, I promise._

**You know**, Soul listened to Black*Star muse as he walked down the street with the prinpulp riding on his back, **this might not have been such a great idea.**

**No, really?** The furfrou growled sarcastically, rolling his ruby orbs as he tred to concentrate on where he was going. **You're just **_**now **_**thinking of that?**

In all honesty, the plan had fallen apart from the beginning. As it turned out Maka had locked the apartment door for once so Ragnarok, being as impatient as usual, broke it down, which surely woke both Maka and Tsubaki. From there everything slowly deteriorated with Black*Star causing more problems than he solved and Ragnarok getting so fed up that he ran off to find Crona on his own, leaving Soul with the prinpulp and no clue where to look.

They'd tried following his scent, but being the professional troublemaker/criminal that he was Ragnarok had left a ton of false trails, some of which crossed over others or went past areas that had stronger aromas to cover his trail up, leaving Soul with a headache from trying to sort out all the scents and Black*Star getting frustrated due to their lack of progress.

**I've a feeling I'd have found them both by now if I were on my own.**

**No, Black*Star!** Soul snapped. **We have to stick together otherwise we'll all get lost. As it is I'm the only one who remembers our way back to the apartment so–** This was when he realized his back felt lighter. Turning he glanced backwards to find a mental outline of where the prinpulp should have been but wasn't. **Dammit! **He swore, looking around everywhere only to come up blank.

**Maka is gonna kill us**...

**Where the hell are you? **Amber eyes scanned the marketplace relentlessly. He was so sure she'd have waited here if this was where she and Maka had been seperated. He padded around, getting sick and tired of running in circles when he then noticed a certain area he'd yet to check. It was near a man's stand that held a variety of pokemon eggs held in incubators. Price tags were posted and, as expected, none were within Maka's ideal price range.

He could just imagine Crona gawking at those, especially since two or three were eevee eggs. He had no idea what was so interesting about them. They were just shells containing yolk and semi-formed embryos, but somehow they made Crona and Tsubaki squeal 'aww, they're so cute!' like a pair of dumb fangirls.

That stupid girl, Maka, tried to explain it at one point by saying it wasn't so much the egg, rather what was inside and the idea it brought about that had them so fascinated.

Pfft. Whatever.

Of course, across from the egg stand was a book stand and between the two stands he caught a faint, sweet scent that was nearly nonexistent due to the rain. It was a combination of natural sweetness and cheap, artificial berry shampoo. _Crona!_ His mind screamed as he took in another deep inhale. Okay, so he was locked onto her. All he had to now was find her.

Kid gave a weary sigh as he leaned against the side of the bookstore's foundation. This had to be the fifth one Crona had taken him to and the fifth one that yielded no answers. Crona was looking rather downcast at this point. Her tail and ears hanging low, expression dour, and she had started moving at a slugma's pace.

He tried to cheer her up, but it seemed like nothing he did helped. She didn't seem to perk up until around lunch time when he'd decided they should stop for a break. He bought himself a smoothie and got her some frosted berries, which were literally berries that'd been shoved into a freezer and were coated in a thick layer of frost. Still, it was a refreshing snack to have when you found yourself in a city located in the middle of a desert.

There was just one little problem...

"Aww," a random girl gushed, pausing to stare down at Crona as she nibbled at her frosty treat, "what a cute sylveon!"

"A sylveon?" another girl said, coming over to gush along with the first. "Ohmigosh! It's adorable!"

Soon there was a crowd of girls standing around her and Kid. She was nervous after the first few girls showed up, but once a crowd had encircled them she'd leapt up into Kid's lap, searching for protection from this adoring mob. Of course, he suffered too. Some of the gawking girls hung on him and asked him if Crona was his to which he couldn't even reply to before another girl asked a question and soon another question was asked before that one could be answered. There was yelling and pushing and shoving and before Crona could fully understand what was going on all sorts of hands were stroking and petting and tugging at her.

_I can't deal with this! _Her panicky mind screeched.

**Fairy Wind!**

She brought about a strong gust of wind that swept the crowd away. Unfortunately, it nearly swept Kid away as well. He managed to hang onto the side of the building and avoid getting flung off into the distance like a rag doll. Shivering and whimpering after the attack had ended, Crona found herself cowering behind a table that had been toppled over by the powerful gust of wind. One of the waiters glared at her, scowling as he then stormed over to a panicky Kid, who was struggling to straighten himself out only to get shouted at by the waiter.

Crona felt really bad as she watched.

There were other customers, whispering to each other and giving Kid angry looks, as though her attacking was his entire fault. Finally, once all the shouting was done Kid came over appearing rather cross. She cowered low to the ground, expecting to be yelled at or physically abused or to be given a good scolding for what she'd done. No. Instead, Kid lifted her up and headed off, cradling her gently in his arms like he had the first time they'd met.

"You don't have to be scared," he murmured as they turned a street corner, "I know you just did that because you felt threatened. I probably should've done something other than sit and watch, but..." he seemed reluctant to go on, "I don't...know...how to handle girls."

Crona stared at him, surprised at his admission. If he were so bad at handling girls then what was it he was doing with Ponera? He was blushing, as though he understood her thoughts and was embarrassed to have her know what she did.

"I know, I know," he sighed, stopping to sit her down now that they were a good distance from the café. "I should've done something anyway. I should've expected that, I guess. There aren't a lot of sylveon around. I'm pretty sure they're more used to flareon, espeon, and umbreon." He took notice of how she winced at hearing that last name, but didn't bother mentioning it. If possible then he'd use it in description later.

"That's what you'd expect living out in a desert."

**I guess that makes sense,** Crona mumbled. **But why did those girls try hurting you?**

"I think we should move on." Kid said, giving the sylveon the impression that he didn't want to talk about girls anymore. "Was there anywhere else your trainer had gone?"

**Uh, yes, **she nodded, padding on ahead to start leading Kid to the next nearest shop, **Maka has been to a lot of different places.**

She stopped outside a rather large pokeshop. Floy'd Pokeshop was printed on the top glass portion of the door in big red letters and a little bell jingled as Kid opened the door to enter, holding a minute longer than necessary to allow her entry. Crona hadn't been inside before, but she remembered Soul mentioning something about this place. There was a pleasant fragrance upon first entering and the sounds of pokemon immediately filled the air. Crona mostly saw shelves of food, bowls, dishes, cages, etc. However, she could see certain isles that held pokemon in cages or pens to be observed and purchased.

They were assigned by theme. The first isle they stumbled upon was bird themed. The main pokemon present were native to the desert area, namely vullaby and fletchling; however, there were several exotic or otherwise uncommon ones present such as chatot, spritzee, and aromatisse. Kid observed each with polite interest though none seemed to particularly catch his eye. She went on ahead, curiously peering around into the next isle. It had a reptilian theme.

She shuddered, spotting several large tanks that housed kecleon, torkoal, ekans, arbok, coiled milotic, and, of course, serviper. Crona backed out of the isle as quickly as possible, turning to run over to the next isle in the hopes of finding something more pleasant. It held nothing but fish pokemon as did the next two isles following that one before it gave way to food and accessory isles. They wandered to the opposite side of the store where they found a wall of two stacks of cages containing canine and feline pokemon. Crona noticed a few young eevee sitting within their own cages, sipping water or eating food, though a couple of especially small ones that shared a single cage were asleep. There were also some growlithe, snubbull, poochyena, lillipup, meowth, skitty, espurr, and glameow. There was even a trio of bouncy slurpuff sitting together appearing rather adorable.

"Do they make you think of anything in particular?" Kid teased as he admired one of the small eevee that seemed rather playful, jumping and yipping for attention within its cage. Crona wasn't too sure what the human meant, seeing as she had never been that outgoing.

She felt a little sad when they passed a see-through holding pen where perspective owners could view what was inside.

Apparently the store was selling young furfrou at half price this month.

The eight that were presently available all looked like newly hatched pups, but they still reminded Crona of a particular furfrou she'd came to know. Their wrestling and running about reminded her of how Soul sometimes roughhoused with Black*Star.

It was kind of depressing. Kid noticed this and urged her to keep moving. That's when they entered into what was, evidently, the egg department. It was a large room that was wall-to-wall with shelves housing incubators. Within each incubator was an egg. And all the eggs were arranged by type.

There were entire sections dedicated to a single type of pokemon, though could only be physically represented by the shelved eggs. Gasping at the sight of all the eggs, Crona soon found herself padding off to search for a particular kind of egg and sure enough she found it after ten short minutes of running around with Kid following close behind, calling after her to make her slow down, which she didn't until she found the eggs she'd been searching for. They were on the bottom shelf so she was able to reach them, pressing a paw to the glass of the incubator housing a particularly large one.

The heat from the black egg warmed the glass, sending a reassuring heat into her tender pawpad. Kid stared at the black oval that held a single brown blotch around the middle of the egg. The look on her face was so whimsical, almost like she were daydreaming.

"Do you have someone special in mind?" Kid dared to ask. She didn't seem too pleased to be broken from her thoughts, but gave a small nod, as she looked to the floor seeming almost ashamed. She flushed slightly at her admittance. Kid was incredibly confused but, again, didn't question anything. "I see. I suppose that just makes it all the more important we find your owner?"

Crona reluctantly removed her paw from the glass, abandoning her daydreams to give her friend a nod of determination. Kid smiled, glad to see she wasn't so down anymore. Kid made sure to grab a collar to replace her old one, if only to pacify himself. They then took their leave to continue their search. Crona seemed much more energetic taking him from store to store and never seeming to lose much energy afterwards. If anything, she became more energized after each failure and for the first time in a long time she let failure push her to do better. She moved onwards, advancing in spite of the lack of progress, not stopping until they decided to call it a day and head home.

At first, she tried to stay strong and not fall apart in front of Kid, but once the sun had set all her strength had vanished.

Tears spilled down her cheeks and she sniffled as she trudged her way back to Kid's home. He tried to cheer her up with promises and reassurance that did little more than further wound the weeping sylveon.

**Hey, Crona!**

She froze. _That voice! _Turning, Crona hoped to see a familiar someone standing nearby. It made her heart flutter and she couldn't hold back the smile that slipped onto her delicate features. Sadly, the smile fell and she stood with a breaking heart when she saw nobody was there. Her ears drooped as she sniffled, wiping away some of her tears with her ribbon feelers. _It must've just been my imagination_... Her body quivered as she turned, nearly running into Kid who had turned to check on her. He looked compassionate as he stared down at her.

"I'm so sorry today didn't turn out too well," he murmured, wiping away some of the salty droplets from her pallid face. "We'll certainly have better luck tomorrow. So try to be patient, all right?"

**But it hurts so much**... She sniffled. **I miss them all **_**so **_**much, Kid.**

Her new friend didn't say anything else. What else was there to say? He took a feeler in hand and started leading her along.

She sobbed quietly, stumbling along and keeping a firm grip on his hand. It felt like in her current world, Kid was the only thing keeping her afloat and if she were to let go of his hand even for a second then she'd drift away. Possibly forever.

So she made sure to not let go even after they made it back to his house. She kept a ribbon wrapped firmly around his hand, quickly wrapping the other around his free wrist when he tried peeling the first one off, uncomfortable with how clingy she was being about now. Unfortunately, she refused to let go and he feared what would happen if someone–especially Ponera–were to come across them like this so he tried to get out of the open to a more secluded place.

Crona whimpered and whined as he drug her upstairs, locking them in his room so nobody would stumble across this peculiar sight. It was a real battle making her let go. He tried being as gentle as he could, tried reasoning with her, but in the end he had to use force to make her let go, viciously prying her sensitive feelers from his skin. She screamed in agony the entire time, eventually jerking away from him and rushing over to hide beneath his bed.

Sighing, Kid instantly regretted being so rough with the timid sylveon. _She was just frightened_, he reasoned, _probably needing someone to hold or wanting some form of comfort._ He moved carefully over to the bed where he heard her whimpering and sniffling and audibly crying. He wasn't certain if it was due to an emotional meltdown or the fact he'd accidentally hurt her, causing him to dread her reasons for hiding herself.

"Crona," he spoke gently, kneeling down next to the bed to peer underneath the bed. "Crona, are you okay?"

She squealed, cowering away from him. The look in her watering blue eyes just about broke Kid's heart. He tried to reach out for her, to pet her, but you just don't try petting a frighetned sylveon. He withdrew his hand quickly, hissing as little red beads rose up from his newly acquired wound. Kid swore under his breath, unable to fully believe she, Crona, had bitten him. Still, he knew it was partly his fault. He shouldn't have tried touching her while she was still so devastated.

Going to the bathroom he washed and bandaged his hand, unphased when he noticed her reflection standing behind him in the bathroom doorway. She appeared quite guilty, head hung low, feelers knotted together worriedly, and pink tail practically dragging the ground. Kid took a deep breath before he turned to face her.

"Do you feel better now?"

She didn't make an attempt to respond.

He sighed, noticing how she was staring at his hand. "Don't worry about this," he said giving it a brief glance, forcing a smile onto his face, "it'll be fine. It's my fault, really."

**No**...**how can you say that? I'm the one who**...**who**...

She couldn't believe she'd done it. She couldn't believe she'd actually bitten a human. It was just something a pokemon didn't do. To bite a human was like signing your death warrant. Why did said human have to be Kid? Why couldn't it have been someone who deserved it? Like her other species mother...

**I'm sorry**, she whispered, taking a careful step in his direction, and then padding the rest of the way. The entire time she eyed his hand, covered in bandages, perhaps even gauze with some sticky ointment covering the actual wound.

Once she was close enough she touched his hand with a feeler, being as gentle as possible as she slowly led his hand down to her mouth and she started to lick at the mint scented bandages.

"Crona," he insisted, gently pushing her away, "it's all right, really. I'll be fine. There's no need for you to do anything."

**I wish I were born an audino**, she sighed, following Kid, **then I could heal you and you wouldn't be in pain. I'm sorry, Kid, I'm really sorry.**

"I think you're just a little overworked," her friend said, as he knelt down to rub that wonderful spot behind her ear. "And I imagine Liz and Patty are hungry so how about we all eat and see about making posters?"

Crona didn't fully agree with his idea, but she was starting to feel the relentless gnaw of hunger form deep inside her sore belly so she agreed even though she wasn't looking forwards to sharing a meal with the sisters.

Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones waiting for them in the kitchen. A familiar illumise and volbeat sat on a countertop together eating some kind of sandwiches, which they used to taunt the sisters whilst Liz and Patty glared and insulted them from their place on the floor. An unfamiliar mothim sat on the table drinking honey straight from a container. Ponera also sat at the table eating some sort of fancy looking meal while a shiny wurmple was draped around her neck languidly.

"What have I told you-"

"Don't start," she sighed, scowling at Kid, "you know I hate leaving them outside. Besides, how are they any different from your _rodents_?" She turned an unpleasant glance to Crona then, "Or your girly mutt, there."

Kid looked ready to shout at her, but held his tongue and retained his composure. "I have told you already," he said, as he went ahead and put out some food for Liz and Patty, getting a dish down to fill with cream and set out for Crona, "they are my pets. They are friendly and loyal creatures."

"And so are my pokemon!"

"Please don't shout. It's-"

"Uncalled for?" she scoffed, rolling her eyes and leaning back in her chair for a moment. "Don't remind me. You've said that a million times already."

"Apparently," he murmured, "a million isn't enough."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Ugh! You're being impossible! I can't stand you!"

Crona cringed at her tone. She, who had been cautiously lapping at a dish of cream that had been placed before her, glanced up at Kid. The look on his face made her shiver, backing away from him as he stormed past, attempting to leave the room only for Ponera to follow him out. Their yelling was slightly muffled in the other room but Crona still got the jest of it. He couldn't stand being near her and she despised his entire family; he wanted her out of his house and she wished they'd never met; and so on and so forth their bickering and shouting went. Crona hated it. She couldn't finish her meal, but that was okay since the volbeat and illumise decided to take it for themselves, dunking their sandwiches in it and continuing to gorge themselves.

Neither Liz or Patty seemed to take notice, intent on guarding and eating their own food without getting involved in the typical disputes that seemed to take place on a daily basis anymore. The bug-types eating was interrupted by a particularly loud cry and the sounds of stomping feet echoing in the sudden silence. Volbeat left then to investigate.

Sighing, Crona decided to also leave. Maybe Kid needed comfort after that big fight and if not then she could go hide underneath his bed or something. As anticipated the vast room–the one Crona presumed to be the living room–was deserted. Or so it seemed, for on her way over to the stairway she found herself facing Ponera's volbeat who was guarding the stairs. He appeared to have been waiting for her. Turning, Crona felt it'd be better if she went back to the kitchen where she'd be safe with Liz and Patty.

Too bad the mothim decided to block her exit. He glared at her, wings beating softly as he fluttered there in the doorway. Crona turned to go hide beneath the furniture. But when she looked behind her she was stunned to see the wurmple that Ponera had, apparently, left was now on the floor near the couch, glowering at Crona menacingly.

**What're you doing here, stray?** Volbeat sneered.

**Please leave me alone.**

**Why?** Volbeat snickered, floating over and taking hold of one of her feelers. It recoiled from his tender touch just as Crona took a step back. Volbeat chuckled darkly, watching as she turned her eyes to the floor with a dark flush crossing her pallid face. **You're such a pretty **_**stray**_**. **His breath was hot against her ear and she could feel a familiar net of dread wrapping itself around her.

**I-I'm not a stray,** she replied defiantly forcing herself to turn a weak glare on him, **I have an owner and a family!**

**And what makes you so sure about that?** Mothim demanded from behind, still guarding the doorway. **How do you know they didn't just abandon you?**

**B-because...**

**Why're you so sure?** Mothim pressed.

**Because you're so much more specialer than everyone else**? Wurmple chimed in from her place near the couch. **Maybe they tired of you and your selfish, whiny, snobbish attitude!**

**What? **Crona glanced to her confused, yelping when the ringleader of the trio gripped a feeler in his small, chubby hand. Gasping, she tried to jump away only to give a pained cry when her feeler was roughly jerked.

**Face it, princess,** Volbeat hissed, earning a stunned look from the startled sylveon, **your owner dumped you like the garbage you are.**

**Maka wouldn't do that! She's kind and caring and she wouldn't ever do anything to hurt me!**

**Humans are liars, **Wurmple chuckled.

**Humans are cruel, **Mothim agreed.

**And your human,** Volbeat concluded with a smirk, **left you.**

**No,** she trembled,** no, you're wrong! Maka...sh-she...Maka's coming for me! Kid'll help us find each other and-**

**Oh, I see!** Volbeat snapped. **You and your human are working an angle here, aren't you? You're trying to steal from this human to satisfy your own! It makes perfect sense. **His features contorted with hate and disgust, ignoring the confusion Crona presented to him. **You've just been getting chummy with him so you can learn his secrets for your greedy mistress!**

**Don't talk about Maka like that!**

**You're just a dirty, little thief!**

**No, I-**

**Thief!** They all chanted. **Thief, thief, little thief likes to hide under sheets!**

**Shut up! That doesn't even make sense!**

But they didn't stop. They continued their chanting until Crona couldn't take it anymore. She turned on Mothim, delivering a hard tackle, her shoulder colliding with his mid-section with such force that he was sent sailing from the room and into the far wall where he then collapsed to the floor unconscious from the force of the blow. Volbeat and Wurmple delivered their own simultaneous attacks.

Dodging, Crona rushed at Wurmple, knocking her unconscious with a quick attack only to be knocked over by a hard zen headbut that was landed to her side. It made her cry out upon impact as she was knocked off her feet. She changed her body position in midair just as Tsubaki and Black*Star had taught her to do, landing on her feet and facing Volbeat whose tail was glowing angrily. He floated low to the ground and without thinking Crona charged forwards, slowing her pace and placing a gentle kiss to his cheek.

"What's going on?!"

**Kid!** She'd never felt more relieved to see him. Turning away from Volbeat who'd flushed to a bright red, she ran over to Kid whilst Ponera, who'd followed close behind with a heavy looking bag gasped upon seeing the state of her pokemon. Crona barely even noticed the light yellow orb of energy as it flew from the drained volbeat and over to her, replenishing her energy and making whatever pain she'd felt moments before melt away. Sighing contentedly as she nuzzled against Kid's leg she was sure he was confused about what he'd seen just a few minutes ago what with her kissing that nasty volbeat and everything. She didn't particularly like using a draining kiss, neither did Maka or Ragnarok, but it certainly worked.

"What the hell did your stray do?!" Ponera screeched. By now Liz and Patty and the illumise had gotten curious enough to leave their food and come investigate, shocked to see the three unconscious pokemon, two startled humans, and one rather contented sylveon.

"I don't know..." Kid mumbled, still confused about walking in on her kissing Ponera's volbeat. What had that been about? And that light...it was kind of...eerie. Now she was nuzzling up against him. However, he had a good idea of what happened given their earlier mishap. "I guess they frightened her," he said, kneeling down to stroke her comfortingly, "and she tried to defend herself."

"Yeah right! For all you know it has rabies or cooties or some other weird disease!"

"No, I'm sure she's not the one at fault."

"Then whose fault is it? Honestly, you should have that thing put down before it infects your rodents with whatever diseases it has!"

"That's enough!" he snapped, glaring at Ponera with just as much venom as she showed him. "It was your damn pokemon, as it usually is, but you never want to admit it! If anyone should get out it's you and your filthy insects!"

"What? You're actually taking up for that...that...that whoreveon!"

"Don't you call her that!"

"It's not like it can understand what it means!"

Crona stared between them for a moment, glanced to the doorway where the three had been but now only illumise floated. She felt scared, crouching low behind Kid, watching as his hands balled up into fists at his sides, trembling with rage. She whimpered at the hate and anger she saw burning within his golden orbs. Crona started to fear he would strike this infuriating girl or-because in the eyes of humans it wasn't such a terrible sin-turn and strike her thin, fearful form. _Please_, she silently begged, _please calm down. Please, Kid, please_...

"I guess you're thinking of it as a person now?" A look of disgust came over the human girl's pretty features then, as she eyed him for a moment then glanced down to Crona's timid expression. "Are you a fucking pokephile?"

"No! Of course not! That's..." Kid couldn't express his disgust at the very notion, it was so powerful that there didn't seem to be a word vividly descriptive enough to describe it.

"Then why're you treating it like a girl so much? A _human _girl? You never treated me as nicely as you treat it!"

"I've tried! Lord knows I have, but you're too much of a spoiled brat for me to keep the act up! And to answer your earlier question, I'm thinking of her as a living creature with thoughts and feelings, not as a human. Now, before I do something I believe we'd both regret I think you should leave and not even consider coming back."

"Huh? But your dad-"

"I'll handle him. You just worry about your family." He took a deep breath pointing to the doorway behind her, voice becoming absolutely dark as he spoke each word individually through clenched teeth, "Now. Get. Out."

She did. There was no need for further fighting or discussion. She collected her pokemon in their respective pokeballs, took her bag in hand, and walked out through the door with a scowl.

Kid sighed, seeming drained of all energy. Crona found this to be rather concerning as he sank down into the couch, giving a shaky exhale that melted into an unsteady laugh. Walking over on careful paws she nudged him lightly, earning his attention almost instantly.

"Here," he said, patting the seat next to him, "you can get up here."

She couldn't help herself from getting close, crawling into his lap and pressing her head against his stomach as she gave his bandaged hand a friendly lick. He recoiled from her tongue and pushed her from his lap as gently as possible.

"I told you to not do that." he mumbled, sighing as he leaned forwards, hands pressed against his head. It was silent for a moment before he finally spoke up. "Crona," he addressed her in a tone that was firm yet gentle, "I'm sorry you had to hear and see all of that. I know you're probably unused to seeing such petty squabbles. Then again, I guess you're not used to seeing such spineless males either, huh?"

**You're not spineless**, she assured him, smiling weakly. Sincerely. **You're really tough and brave and you're a good friend. You're a kind master. If I didn't have Maka then I'd want to stay with you, but I do**...**so**...

"You're so sweet," he said with a caring smile, "I just wish I could understand what you're saying."

**Huh? You mean**...**you can't–**

**What'd ya think?** Liz's voice interjected. **That he could? Humans tend to speak their own language. No human can understand poketongue! **She glanced from Kid then back to Crona with a sigh as she stood near the edge of the couch, frowning. Patty giggled close behind her sister, scampering in to stand in front of Crona. Kid watched them with mild interest, but now that she watched him closely Crona supposed he really couldn't understand them.

**That's not true,** Crona argued, **Maka could always understand what we're saying.**

**No, she probably just knows body language–**

**No! **Crona persisted, staring down at Liz in a manner that was almost imploring.** She really does understand what we're saying! Ragnarok didn't think she could at first either, but Maka doesn't even have to look at us to know what we're saying!**

**Probably just some human trick.**

**Trick-or-treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat! If you don't I don't care I'LL FREAKING ELECTROCUTE YOUR HAIR!**

Crona yelped and Liz stared at her sister with an arched brow. **Hair? **she questioned. Shaking her head she unconsciously started to smooth the fur of her tail. **No, Patty, don't mess up someone's hair! That's just...wrong!**

**Sorry, sis, but I needed something to rhyme with care!**

**Anyway**, Liz said in a tone that sounded official, as though she were finalizing a fact, **I know he sometimes answers your questions or talks about something similar, but at other times he's completely clueless. Trust me.**

"I think I'm done with girls."

**What?** Crona gasped the same instance Liz sighed, **Seriously?**

**Kid's gay, sis! **Patty laughed, poking at her sister's fur. **Kid's gay!**

"Not completely," he continued, as though he didn't understand what Patty was chanting, which he didn't, but Crona still found it odd, "but I think I'll be available for a while. The last thing I need is another Ponera sticking around here."

**Amen to that,** Liz agreed.

**Hallelujah!** Patty laughed, clapping her front paws together.

_Oh, don't give up, _Crona thought, giving him a pitying gaze, _I'm sure you'll find a nice mate someday, Kid._

A few short seconds later he found the sylveon's feelers around his neck, whilst two pachirisu hugged his mid-section. **If it makes you feel better**, Crona said as she wrapped her feelers around him, **I like you. You're a good friend.**

**Yeah,** Liz agreed as she embraced her master, **you're not a half bad guy. You've got class and I have to respect that.**

**You're stuck up and funny!** Patty giggled, rubbing her cheek against him, shocking him slightly, and making him jump slightly. **Oops, sorry!**

"Umm, th-thank you." He then tried to separate himself from them, though he was genuinely touched by their display of affection. "You're all good friends." He said, placing a hand to both Liz and Patty's head to give them an affectionate pat. "Especially you two for putting up with me for so long. You seem to be the only ones I can't drive away."

**Oh, don't be so hard on yourself.** Liz huffed, giving him a reassuring pat to the hand. **You're just...quirky. Real unique.**

**One of a kind!**

Smiling, he gave them one last pat before sitting them on the floor. "I'll be making posters up in my room if you need me." And with that being said he left the three there, only coming back down to quickly add, "No fighting." before he went back up to get started on the earlier mentioned posters.

* * *

**I am so sorry for making this chapter so long, but I got carried away. Again.**

**xP**

**I guess I should be more careful, huh?**

**Haha! I have now freed Kid from Ponera and their friendship has strengthened! But will it last? ****;3 ****Don't worry, I plan to make sure next chapter is shorter. It should be up soon. Also, I hope you all found I did a good job editing. I tried to avoid making errors as much as possible. Sorry if I failed but I did try.**

**So thank you lovely readers for dropping by. I hope you all found this to be entertaining. And l****astly, I congratulate whoever finished and appreciate the support I've been getting. You guys are really awesome!**

**xD**

**~Luffles, Fairylust~**


	7. Chapter 7

He'd been so close...

**Hey, Crona!** He'd shouted, having spotted her with some human. He looked about Maka's age with jet black hair that had three stripes on one side of his bangs. He was standing over her and she was looking really upset. Ragnarok had followed her scent all the way to that part of the city and was just a measly ten feet, give or take, from reaching the timid sylveon. He started forwards to run to her, but then everything changed.

His eyesight was filtered red and the world slowly broke apart into pixels, falling away from view as he then found himself shrouded in a thick darkness.

_No_...

He was so close, so damn close that it was pathetic! How could he have failed when he was so close?

_Crona_...

She'd been right there in front of him. And she was sad, crying. He thought of that human and hate flowed through his veins with natural ease, bringing a chill to the once warm space. Just what had that human been doing with her? Was he hurting her? Torturing her? Why was she with him in the first place? All these questions and many more surged forwards, fueling his anger as he pushed against the darkness, hoping he'd make it budge if he used enough willpower.

Soft blue eyes and white fur marred black passed through his mind as he pushed, feeling the world around him flash with varying shades of color before settling back into the thick blackness. A glitch. That meant he had done it. He made it move.

_Kill her_...

_She's no longer needed_...

_You're both expendable_...

_Please, Crona, be my friend_.

Just those few words had set all this into motion. Their abandonment seemed like the end of them having to deal with humans and their cruelty, but as soon as Crona grew a soft spot for Maka and joined up with her, he found himself tagging along. Why he had to follow after her he had no idea. Habit, most likely. That's what he reasoned, anyway. She was just a puny little eevee and was, in all honesty, stupid for joining up with a human right after being abandoned by her first, the one she considered her mother, despite how others persistently pointed out they were of two different species. Then again, Crona had always been pretty naive.

Trusting that stupid, pig-tailed brat to not lose her? What more proof did one need? Maka wasn't as stupid as she could've been, but she wasn't a genius. Not by a long shot. Maybe only in Crona's eyes, but she wasn't that bright herself.

_I did it! I did it, Ragnarok! I evolved!_

He faltered for a moment, distracted as he recalled that day just a few weeks after they'd joined Maka's team when the eevee he'd known for so long became a sylveon. She'd gotten slightly bigger and a tad more graceful thanks to a combination of training and anatomical change. And her looks had also been improved tenfold. One would think she'd have changed personality wise as well from how different she appeared, but she was still shy and naive. The only major difference was that thanks to those dumb ribbon feelers of hers she could grab things.

To be more specific, she could grab onto others. He'd found this out when she ran up to 'hug' him and had startled him, earning a rather hard headbut to the face. She was lucky he hadn't clawed her. Otherwise, she'd have been permanently scarred like Soul was, healed claw marks running across his chest just beneath all that thick, untrimmed fur. It'd been easy to view when he had his kabuki trim due to his fur being shorter and not as thick, but after a while of leaving it uncut his fur grew out to cover his scar up.

Nevertheless, Crona had been too happy to let him attacking her upset her for long. He supposed it was because she'd started thinking she would never get the chance to evolve. Ragnarok figured she'd have become a glaceon.

Maka had once purchased a thunder stone just in case Crona decided on becoming a jolteon. But that had just been because they were trying to be practical about it. Black*Star was a water-type, Tsubaki grass-type, Soul was normal, and Ragnarok was a dark/fire combo.

Crona and Maka had been trying to figure a type Crona could become without becoming the same type as one of the others, which wasn't so bad since Ragnarok hated the thought of her changing into a leafeon or umbreon. Distasteful memories ruined that for him. So for a short while they settled on jolteon or espeon; however, Crona eventually started whining about how she wouldn't be able to deal with spiky fur so they hocked the thunder stone, concentrating on their other options, but after some time she felt she wouldn't like being psychic.

So, for some time they focused on her being a glaceon and that seemed unwavering until one day, unintentionally, Crona learned a new move called baby-doll eyes when she hit level nine and when Maka took them to some amie place Crona changed into a sylveon. A fairy-type.

In a way it fit her. She was just as shy and friendly as her appearance suggested. And in a way, she was a lot more attractive, too.

Too bad Soul and Black*Star had to be the ones to point it out, too bad others had to notice it as well, it was just...too bad...

Now _that_ human had her. Only Arceus knew what it was he or his pokemon were doing to her. What if she were crammed in some small cage or getting beaten around? He was the only one supposed to do that. Not only that, but it was his job to protect her, dammit! It always had been...and maybe...maybe it was more than that. He'd become so accustomed to having the pipsqueak around that he found it virtually impossible to think of himself without her nearby. It was like...he just...he couldn't explain it, but knew he had to get out.

He had to get out and save her _NOW!_

And just like that his world of darkness vanished in a brief flash, everything was pixilated for a couple of seconds, and then the outside world appeared in a quick burst of color and solidity. He felt the hard, uneven surface of hot city sidewalk beneath his paw pads and without any further thought he started to run.

"Hey!" He heard the familiar sound of Maka's voice exclaim. The sound of her footsteps picking up pace behind him came in sync with her cry of, "Where are you going?!"

**Wait!** Soul called, as he padded alongside the confused girl, teeth bared as he gave a growl of frustration. **Hey, wait up! We still need to find–** That last part was cut off. Then again, Ragnarok wasn't really listening to begin with.

"Great!" Maka huffed, as frustrated as her partner who stood next to her, looking up at her with uneasy ruby orbs. "First we lose Crona then you three run off and we lose Black*Star just to find Ragnarok who we've lost again! Ugh, I swear this is the last time I come to a city without leashes!"

**C'mon, Maka,** Soul tried to soothe, **you don't mean that.**

"You're right," she groaned, feeling somewhat defeated, "but what else am I supposed to do? I was going to look for Crona but now I have to look for Black*Star and Ragnarok, too. At this rate we'll never find her."

**Look, Maka, forget about them. They can take care of themselves and chances are they'll find their way back. If you really want to find Crona then we'll look for Crona. Besides, don't ya think the chances of finding her are better with our team spread out?**

"You're right, Soul. I guess I should focus more. Okay, so let's check the pound first, and then we'll ask around. I don't think sylveon are common around here so luckily people will be able to give us some helpful information."

**And if that doesn't work out**, Soul added with a sigh, **then we always have those stupid flyers you keep on hand.**

"Hey," Maka murmured, "it's a good thing I do. Someone has to have a plan when you guys pull stunts like this."

**Right, **Soul muttered more to himself than anyone else. The furfrou rolled his eyes, padding after his mistress. He knew she was partly right, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Kid's place Crona managed to wander her way upstairs where she found Kid tapping furiously on a black laptop that had a white, cartoonish looking skull on the back instead of a rounded berry like the one on Maka's pretty green laptop. She dared to enter his room, small paws moving silently across the floor, heading in his direction. A misstep caused a board to creak, alerting him to her presence, but he didn't look up. Maybe it was to spare her feelings or maybe he was too busy to really care, either way she was just glad he hadn't pointed out her flaw. Lifting herself up, Crona placed her front paws on the edge of his bed, peering up at him curiously. He noticed her with a smile, turning the laptop around to show her a picture of herself that had been pasted to a blank page. It was the one he said he'd liked.

Crona stared at the bolded words, **Found Sylveon**,resting centered at the top.

Below her picture she found her name, the location she was being held, the date she was found, the date the posters would be put up, and a very vivid description of her, mentioning details that went beyond physical appearance such as her weight, gender, and an estimated age that was surprisingly accurate to smaller details such as her likes, dislikes, and temperament.

He even mentioned she had 'an apparent dislike for Umbreon' in the description. And to top it all off, a couple spaces below that, near the bottom of the page was Kid's cell and home phone numbers along with an email address. The words, **Please Call, Text, or Email** with a time frame of **Between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM**, which seemed rather pointless since he didn't seem to go to bed until nine or ten, sat below the given numbers/address. Nevertheless, she was happy he'd been so specific about everything.

"What do you think?"

**It's really nice**, she complimented, smiling sincerely as she stared at it for another moment. Tail wagging, she could feel her hopes rising once again. **Maka's sure to see these. They're perfect!**

"There's just one thing I'd like to change."

Huh? What is it?

"I think we should use a different picture. Maybe you could put on that new collar? I'm sure that'd be eye-catching and I can put your tags on it if you like."

I guess so... Crona watched as he got up, leaving his laptop alone to go get the tags from her old collar. He sat the tags aside, leaving the old collar on his desk to try and mend later. She watched as he brought out the collar he'd bought, feeling almost breathless as he placed it around her neck. It was black like her old one, but had genuine diamond studs lining the center like the spikes of Ragnarok's collar. She wondered how much it cost him to buy it. Surely it was expensive. He then snapped a picture using his cell phone's camera feature, chuckling.

"Are you blushing?"

**N-no! **She lied pathetically, pawing her muzzle in a vain attempt to rid her face of the heat. It, unsurprisingly, failed and she sat there flustered whilst he uploaded the picture to his laptop, effectively replacing the first picture. He then added a footnote to quickly mention how her original collar had broken so he'd purchased her a new one.

"You're quite beautiful, Crona. I can't see what Ponera had against you."

**Kid!** She whined, gently pawing him as her ears flattened against her skull. Her face was getting unbearably hot as she listened to his compliments. **Don't say things like that! It's embarrassing!**

"All right," he chuckled, patting the empty space next to him, "all right, stop your fussing and I'll let you up here."

**Okay**... Crona mumbled, pulling herself up onto the bed where she then sat next to Kid. He patted her back, murmuring about how she was a good girl and patted her back.

Sighing, she supposed she needed to enjoy this human's affection while it lasted. Once Maka found her, Crona had the feeling it'd be a long time before she saw Kid again. _If _she ever saw him again. Apparently, Kid was having the same thoughts because when she turned to look at him, just to get a good mental picture of his face, she found him staring down at her with a sad stare of his own.

"It might sound awful," he murmured, "but I'm not sure if I can do this."

**What do you mean?**

"I've just...gotten so fond of you..." he murmured sadly, rubbing between her ears as he continued speaking, "hard to believe you'll be leaving." His rubbing stopped and he gave a sigh, giving her a forced smile. "But I want you to be happy and I don't suppose you'll ever be happy here, hmm?"

**Kid**...**it's not like that.** Crona said, surprised at how weak and pathetic that came out even to her own ears. **I just**...**if I could**...**I **_**would **_**stay here, but Maka**...**Maka moves around a lot and I need to be with her. I **_**need **_**her, Kid, just as much as I need you right now. I can't imagine my life without my family, Kid. I love them.**

Nuzzling against him, she gave a sigh when he pushed her away so she opted to rest a gentle feeler against his hand, hoping he'd get her message one way or another even though he couldn't understand her spoken words.

"You're sweet," he murmured, "but we really should get these posters printed. We'll put them up tomorrow."

**Okay, **Crona sighed, giving a reluctant glance to the doorway. _Okay,_ she thought sadly, _I'll wait, Kid. I'll wait if you really want me to. _And from what she could tell, he wanted her to stick around.

And she gladly would. If only for one more day.

* * *

**Another chapter gracefully executed.**

**;)**

**I really like how well this is going and if my hectic schedual will allow it then I'll try to update again at one point later in this week. If not for school and studying and tests and all that jazz I bet I'd already have this thing done! Or maybe not...again, I have bad time management skills. I'm working on that though! See? This chapter is proof! I set aside time to update!**

**xD**

**Yay! It's a victory for me!**

**Anyway, I thank you lovely readers for sticking around despite my previous lengthy updates. I'll try keeping things short from here on out, unless I go on a writing binge. That's all I can say on that matter.**

**Finally, I do believe that I'll have this story wrapped up by the end of this month, if not sooner and want to once more thank you all for your support! You guys have no idea how much your support means to me. I enjoy writing and am glad for those of you who are enjoying this. I wish you all happy wishes and think I'll take a short little break for now. Bye-byez!**

**~With Luff, Fairylust~**


	8. Chapter 8

She'd preferred it if they did it right away, put the posters up and said a little prayer afterwards, but then again, why shorten her time here anymore than what it already would be? She meant it when she said if she could she'd stay but she also meant it when she said she needed to be with Maka. This left her loyalties torn between the two humans.

If it were only about their pokemon then Crona knew she'd choose Maka each time.

Liz and Patty were okay but she didn't like how much of a bother she was being, how she unintentionally made them jealous nor how they had neglected to help her earlier when those bug-type's were giving her a hard time. Besides, her homesickness was worsening and she found herself strongly desiring to play with someone.

Before this entire mess, Soul and Black*Star would play ball with her, though it often turned into a competition where Black*Star tried to see how far he could throw their toy whilst Soul tried to outrun Crona for it. She was proud to say she had won against him a few times.

Crona sort of liked when Tsubaki threw them a stick. It was usually less of a hassle.

At other times, Maka would have this...this _thing_...a stick with a line and a little bell with pretty blue and white feathers attached to it. She'd jingle it in front of the sylveon's face or high over her head and for some reason Crona found herself batting her paws at it, stalking to pounce on it, or shake the bell to make it give that pretty jingling sound. Ragnarok sometimes laughed at her or told her she needed to stop acting like she were a skitty for Maka's amusement.

In all honesty, though, Crona didn't mind if she acted like a skitty. It was extraordinarily fun.

Or maybe three of them–her, Soul, and Black*Star–would try having a swimming contest, if they were in a vicinity with water, of course, which Black*Star usually won and she lost, leaving Soul to take second place.

Then, if he were in the playing mood, Ragnarok would play fight with her, but that usually turned out badly with her losing and he unintentionally–though at times she suspected it wasn't entirely an accident–leaving a few bruises here and there. Crona much preferred hide-and-seek, even if he usually won that game, too. The fact he'd have anything to do with her made Crona feel ecstatic.

However, ever since she came to Kid's she hadn't really had the chance to play a game, too concerned with leaving.

Staring at Kid now, Crona wondered if he'd play a game with her. It was a small consolation for the both of them, but at least when she left she could have some good memories. Scanning the room she was almost too stunned to breathe when she noticed a pretty pink rubber ball left on Liz and Patty's beanbag bed. Supposing it would be okay if she borrowed it, Crona got off the bed and went to grab it, taking it back to Kid who was now typing furiously on his laptop.

Dropping it in his lap she sat down, waiting to see if he would take the hint that came with her offering. He stopped his typing, seeming confused when he saw the toy she'd brought him.

"Thank you," he murmured, lifting it up between his fingers to examine it before giving a nervous chuckle and admitting, "I've never really...done this...before."

**Why not?**

"I guess it's my own fault. I've never really had a pokemon like you before. I've never had a ghost bring me a ball and Liz and Patty usually entertain themselves so..." he sighed, smiling weakly and flushing lightly in embarrassment, "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this."

**You just throw it.**

"I'm sorry, but I'm not up to this, Crona."

**Kid–**

He gave it a light toss and on instinct, Crona leapt off the bed and went padding after it. She pinned it to the floor with her paw, glancing over her shoulder at Kid who was staring at her, arching a brow with mild interest. **You did it! **Crona cheered. Grabbing the ball up in her mouth, she took it back to Kid with her tail wagging profusely. Throwing it again, Kid watched as the sylveon ran after it, yipping happily in triumph, as she began pawing it, as though she had brought down a mortal enemy.

He was rather intrigued by the simplicity of this game. He was, furthermore, surprised that he actually liked it. In many regions, people said that canine pokemon were man's best friend and Kid had never, honestly, understood that comment, at least, not until that moment.

**You're really good at this, Kid.** Crona praised, tail wagging as she panted lightly, waiting for him to throw the ball again. **Are you sure you haven't played before?**

"You're looking tired." He murmured. She was about to assure him she was okay when he promptly added, "I think we should stop for now. We can play some more tomorrow."

Crona knew this was most likely a lie, but gave a halfhearted smile and headed out of the room to go find out where his pokemon had gotten off to downstairs.

* * *

Unbeknownst to her, the two pachirisu were nowhere to be found downstairs. Instead, they scampered about the upstair hallways, waiting for her and their master to leave his laptop unguarded. Peering into the room they found that Kid was no where in sight and the bathroom door was shut. The sounds of water running assured them that they had eighteen minutes exactly to get on his laptop and find those posters he was making. It was pretty easy, considering this wasn't the first time they had done something like this. **Okay, Patty, we'll be looking for a human under the name, Maka Albarn. Got it?**

**Got it, sis!**

**Good. I'm gonna send this in to the library computer and we can print copies off from there. After that we'll just have to throw them around town.**

**She'll be outta here in no time! Right, sis?**

**Right. Then things can finally get back to being normal. No creepy bugs or ghosts or Kid pushing us to the side. Things'll be normal again.**

**Okay, but what about Cro~na?**

**She'll be home safe and sound with her owner**. Liz responded knowingly, clicking the enter button to send it to the computer in the library. Looking down to her younger sister, Liz gave her a promising smile.

**Everybody wins**. She reasoned, fully believing this to be true and knowing it was what was best in the long run. No point in beating around the bush or prolonging the inevitable. **Everybody will be happy. We're just**...**speeding things along**...**so everyone will heal faster from all this.**

**What do you mean, sis?**

**You've seen how emotionally drained that awful girl made Kid, right?** Liz waited for Patty to nod before continuing with her line of reasoning.** Well, just think of what would happen if he gets too attached to Crona and vice versa. It'll be a mess! She already has a human and if Kid gets too close then he'll just get his heart broken when he has to give her back.**

**It'll be smashed into a katrillion tiny pieces!**

**Exactly! And that's what we've gotta stop from happening.**

**Off to the land of books!** Patty exclaimed, fully energized and gearing to go as she gave a dramatic point to the door. Scampering out she gave little notice that Liz wasn't following, causing her sister to give an exasperated groan, following after and, inadvertently, stepping on the laptop's keyboard by mistake.

She swore silently, hoping that didn't break anything as she then scurried after Patty, not seeing the small box that had popped up, accompanied by a shrill beep, afterwards.

* * *

_Where are they?_ Crona wondered as she allowed her paws to carry her back up the stairs where she then headed for and reentered Kid's room. He was apparently grooming himself in the next room seeing as the door was shut and she could hear the sounds of running water. Sighing, she seriously wished she had someone to spend time with. Her loneliness was only amplified when she climbed up onto his bed to lie down, only to end up unable to rest because she was unused to sleeping alone. In fact, she noticed a slight chill brought on from her immense feelings of loneliness.

Of course, this was when she noticed Kid's laptop sat open and that a little beep was registering from the device. Glancing to the closed bathroom door, Crona dared to go take a look at the screen. Multiple small boxes had appeared on the desktop.

One read, 'File Crona_Poster_01 has been deleted', and another box that read, 'Click to complete system shutdown', and then there were two or three others saying something or another that the sylveon paid no mind to. She was far too attracted to the first box that informed her that the poster Kid had designed was successfully deleted.

Both her mother and Maka had talked enough about technology and computers for her to understand that when a file was deleted that meant it had died and wasn't coming back unless you got it from the computer's garbage. It seemed easy enough but then again its harder when you're all paws and suddenly too distressed to think of using your feelers.

_Why?_ Her mind whined in panic as she began to frantically paw at the infernal machine's keyboard in an attempt to rescue the file only to cause more undo problems before the power shut off and the screen went blank. **No!** She wailed, knowing this meant her chances of being found had shrank back down to zero. No, no, no, no, no! She couldn't believe this. Crona just _couldn't _believe this had happened.

But how?

"Crona?"

Looking up from the screen she found her eyes meet gold and her heart stopped for a moment before continuing its steady beating. **Why?** She had no idea why she asked. The words came as quickly and unconsciously as when her legs carried her over to him and had her standing before him, watery eyed and no longer asking, but _demanding _why the poster had been deleted.

Of course, Kid was oblivious to the source of her distress and tried to calm her only to have her feelers push him away. Crona wasn't sure she wanted to be near him as a sudden idea struck her: What if Kid had deleted it so she would stay there with him forever?

_No_, she scolded herself, feeling as disgusted and ashamed as she had when she permitted herself to believe Maka had abandoned her. _Kid wouldn't do that_, she assured herself, but then another voice inside of her rose to demand a reason why he wouldn't, persisting even against the argument of friendship that Kid was still only a human. She knew better than anyone how incredibly selfish they could be, especially if there was something they considered worth keeping in their line of sight.

Still, she refused to believe he would do this to her when he had been trying so hard to help her. Crona tried her best to push her natural earned mistrust towards the human race as deep down as she could get it so that her mind would stop making such outrageous accusations.

"Are you all right?" Kid asked, noticing how concentrated the sylveon appeared.

This question combined with his fingertips gingerly grazing her silky fur made Crona jolt. She stared up at him wearily for a moment before she silently leapt onto his bed and laid down, curling herself up at the foot of the bed where she had been put the night before. Kid sighed. Whether it was from weariness, irritation, or frustration she didn't know. She didn't want to know. All Crona wanted was to pretend she was at home and forget about this ugly business but sleep was slow to come and all she could wonder was if tomorrow would truly be better, as Kid had assured her it would, now that her chances had been terribly reduced. Somehow, though, sleep managed to find her and took her under to a place where she was eternally safe and perpetually loved.

* * *

**Happy Easter everyone! Sorry if this chapter was a bit rushed or not as well edited as past chapters. Also, I appreciate the support and suggestions I've been getting. It means a lot to me, like, **_**a lot**_**! You're all great and I am very appreciative for that. But then again, it's kinda like simple math, right?**

**No flames + Inspiration + Update = ****x) ppl all around!**

**Anyway, I think I'll be calling it a...err...nap? Yeah, I'll call it a nap. I seriously need some Zzzs about now, but missing 'em was worth it! I hope you all like the update.**

**Thanks, again, you wonderful gals & guys and have a wonderful Easter!**

**~Sincerely, Fairylust~**


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